Oh The Wonders of Coffee Shops
by Bellsa
Summary: Steve rogers was having a normal day, going to a coffee shop, doing some reading, when he meets a not so normal girl. She kinda saved his life, but besides the point, what happens when she stays in Stark tower finding none other than her sister and a few more friends than she'll be able to handle. And possibly a few enemies along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello There! My name is Bella and this is my first fanfiction here on so please be gentle. Anyways, this is just a captain america oc love story with action and some plot. It doesn't exactly follow all of the storylines and the facts in the storylines so um, try to cope with that. Thanks for checking this out and I hope you enjoy!**

**I walked down the familiar road to the coffee shop, my laptop bag securely at my side. My converse echoed on the sidewalk as I calmly walked to the small shop on the corner of the street.**

**Once I reached the shop I opened the door and it dinged, marking my entrance. The elderly woman at the counter, Joan, smiled at me and said sweetly, "The usual?" I nodded and slightly smiled at her. I continued to walk to my usual seat when I collided with something hard, I looked up to see a man wearing a leather jacket apologizing profusely. **

"**I'm so sorry ma'am, Are you okay?" he asks me, sounding genuinely concerned. **

"**I'm fine, don't worry about it." I say, nervous being around his tall physique. **

"**I'll buy you your coffee to make it up for you?" he says more as a statement than a question. I sigh and nod, knowing there is probably no way I can persuade him to leave me alone.**

"**Okay, good." He says pulling out his wallet and walking up to the register to pay for and retrieve my iced mocha. He walks over and hands me my coffee.**

"**Thank you." I say with a nod of my head.**

"**Would you like to sit down?" He asks me kindly. I resist the urge to sigh as I remind myself he is only being kind. I nod and walk over to a table, he pulls out my chair and I am confused for only a second before sitting down and watching as he takes a seat across from me. **

"**So, what's your name?" He asks me as I keep my hands around my coffee, hesitant to take a sip. **

"**Monroe." I whisper, using my regular alias.**

"**Steve Rogers." He says extending his hand. I slowly extend mine to shake his and shake his hand gently, before pulling away. **

"**You're the ice guy, Right?" I say without an ounce of sympathy, which I've been told I need. He chuckles before nodding.**

"**That must have been fun." I murmur taking a sip of my coffee, weighing out all the possible ways he could have slipped drugs in the beverage. **

"**Part of the avengers, right?" I ask him. **

"**Yeah, Heard of em?" He asks me, his accent slightly Brooklyn. But I knew his story, I had read all about him. Actually, I've read about all the avengers, most people have.**

"**So, Monroe. Tell me about yourself." He asks, I freeze and set my coffee down. **

"**Um." I say slowly trying to think of a way out of this. **

"**I like to uh, write." I say motioning to my bag. That is actually true, this Steve Rogers character is very hard to lie to.**

"**Oh, interesting. I draw but that isn't all that similar is it?" He asks, blushing lightly and running a hand awkwardly through his hair. I sip my coffee and then respond, **

"**They are both an art." I say, trying to make him feel better, which is strange for me. But for some reason I feel like he needs cheering up. he smiles at me, and that's when I realize the man staring at me from behind Steve. Steve seems to notice and raises an eyebrow. I look back at him quickly, Trying to act like nothing happened. **

"**Everything okay?" He asks me. I nod.**

"**Yeah." I say, adding to the effect. **

"**So, what else do you like to do?" He asks me with a sweet smile.**

"**I like music." I say simply, twirling my straw in my coffee awkwardly. **

"**I like music too, but I do have a lot to catch up on." He says with a laugh, making me chuckle, surprisingly. I can feel the man behind steve eyes on me and I catch a few glimpses of him and make very small and simple deductions from his appearance. His black leather and grimace that is probably a regular occurrence on his face. He must be an agent or assassin of some sort. The man catches my eye and he reaches for something inside of his jacket, I instinctively put my hand on the gun that is hidden underneath my gray shirt and in the belt of my dark wash skinny jeans **

"**Okay, you have been staring behind me for about two minutes now, what is going on?" Steve asks me, sounding worried, yet demanding. I ignore Steve and stare at the man, that's when I realize what's in his hand. A grenade. **

"**Steve, I need you to get under the table as soon as I tell you to do so." I whisper to him, grabbing my gun and placing it in my lap. **

"**what? Why?" He asks me.**

"**Either that or, a better option, calmly leave the coffee shop." I say urgently while the man glares at me. **

"**Mon-" He starts, but I cut him off by shouting, **

"**EVERYONE DOWN!" I get under the table quickly and watch as most of the people do the same, or run out. Steve is also under the table and he has a gun out, thankfully. I load mine and hold it close. **

"**Monroe?" He asks me, I stay silent and then wait for the blast I knew was to come. Instead I hear nothing, but what I do hear is footsteps. Approaching footsteps. **

"**Oh shit." I whisper, Steve looks over at me confused. I extend my arm, the one I am holding the gun with and see the man's boots walking towards me. I look up from under the table and see him holding a grenade, fake, but the thing that is real is his gun. I don't hesitate as I shoot him and watch as he falls down to my level. **

"**Are there any more?" I ask as he chokes on his blood from the bullet wound. **

**He nods. **

"**You'll never get away V-" He says before I shoot him again. **

"**We need to get out of here, more are coming." I say standing up and pulling up my black hoodie before loading my gun once more and holding it at my side. **

"**It would probably be a good idea for you to leave now." I tell Steve as he swiftly crawls out from underneath the table. **

"**No way miss, you'll need my help with whatever is happening." He says kindly. I sigh and say **

"**Okay, fine." I say walking stealthily to the back of the shop and escaping through the back door. **

"**They will be following us to my apartment, I just need to grab a bag and my car before I'll be able to get the hell out of here." I say walking quickly, steve easily following behind me. **

"**I'll take back up since you seem to know what you're doing." He says walking behind me, hopefully watching out for me, not wanting to shoot me in the back. once we reach my apartment, which isn't that far from the coffee shop, one of the reasons I went there so often. **

"**We're here, stay here." I tell him motioning to outside of the apartment. He nods and I walk in, I can already see the skids on my wooden floor. **

"**Are you kidding me? I just cleaned that!" I exclaim as five men come out. I sigh and punch the first in the jaw, he stumbles back. The next to come up gets a sharp kick to the right temple, he passes out on the floor as I shoot the next three in the chest, perfectly on target, as per usual. I grab my bag and run out, seeing Steve in the same place as I had left him. **

"**Let's go soldier." I say, holding onto my keys for my car. **

"**Soldier? Really?" He asks me raising an eyebrow.**

"**Just get in the car, I'll drop you off at wherever." I say opening the door and climbing in. Steve does the same and I start the car. **

"**Where to?" I ask him pulling out of my parking space and onto the road. **

"**Stark tower." He says simply. I nod, I thought he would say that. As we drive I can feel his gaze burning a hole through me. **

"**Okay, I will let you ask one question." I say keeping my eyes on the road.**

"**Who were those guys?" He asks me, again, that question was expected. **

"**Part of the Mexican cartel." I say simply.**

"**The cartel? Why are you involved in the cartel?" He asks me again. **

"**I said one question." I say smirking. **

"**You remind me a lot of Natasha." He tells me, placing his hands on his lap. I freeze once more, but then regain my control. '**

"**She's there?" I ask him, my voice breaking only slightly. **

"**Uh, yeah." He says in an obvious sort of voice.**

**"Oh um cool." I say lamely cursing myself for letting my emotions through. **

**"Do you know her?" He asks me, looking at me with confusion. I stay silent. **

**"You look a lot like her." He says in a very just passing tone. Not realizing the effect he has on me with his words. I knew I looked like her, but I was always flattered when I heard it. My striking red hair, long and tied back in a braid. My soul piercing green eyes that have seen a surprising amount of stuff. **

**"Thanks." I whisper, holding back tears that have probably been waiting to come out for years. **

**"Woah, are you okay?" He asks me, concerned as we reach the tower. **

**"I'm fine. Nice meeting you Steve." I say, waiting for him to get out. **

**"Oh no no no no, you are coming in with me. You don't have anywhere to go." He says, his eyes pleading. **

**"Please?" He asks sweetly making me sigh and lean back, hitting my head on the seat. "Fine." I say shortly grabbing my bag and walking out of the car. Steve takes my bag, even though I said I was fine as he walks with me into the tower. When we reach the lobby we go into the elevator and wait in comfortable silence. **

**"You'll meet tony, just ignore him." He says, still Holding my bag. **

**"Capsicle! Woah, cap has a girl!" A man exclaims, clearly tony stark.**

**"Wow, nice one cap." He says, nodding in my direction. I just roll my eyes. **

**"This is Monroe and she's gonna stay here for awhile." Steve says to tony, tony raises his eyebrow but shrugs and walks away.**

**"I'll tell the rest!" He shouts as he walks away. **

**"You can stay on my floor, let's get you set up." He says to me.**

**"I did not agree to staying." I begin to argue but Steve is already walking towards the elevator and motioning for me to catch up. I walk calmly to the elevator and cross my arms. **

**Once we reach his level, we walk out of the elevator and he opens the door to the suite, as it seems, for me. He closes the door and I am greeted by a gorgeous suite. Everything is very posh and just beautiful. **

**"I'll take the couch." He says, motioning to the couch, and then walking into another room. I look back at the couch and stare at the pristine white leather. A shiny wooden table sits in front of it, and on the wall is a large flat screen tv. The remotes are on the wooden table, along with a newspaper. I scan the room further and do not fail to notice the random items that are added from the forties. Probably to make Steve more comfortable in his home. The record player has a record sitting atop it but it does not play, an old radio is on a long table that is under the window. When Steve comes back he is no longer carrying my bag, he stands next to me and he looks over at me. **

"**Hungry?" He asks, I shake my head, food has to wait.**

"**You should still meet the others, they'd like you. Maybe Nat would finally get a girl to talk to." Steve says. I flinch at the mention of Natasha and he notices. **

"**Are you sure you're okay? Because you can rest or maybe have some tea, it's pretty calming." He says. **

"**I'm fine, let's go meet these friends of yours." I say running a hand through my bangs which have been let free of the braid I had secured them in this morning. I should probably dye it, now that the cartel is after me. **

"**They're nice, well except tony, but they're pretty good." He says opening the door for me and letting me walk out, following behind me and then closing the door as we both stand in the hallway. We walk towards the elevator and then proceed into it, steve presses the button with the number 5. We wait in silence and I tap my foot to the elevator music. **

"**Tony can be a handful but you seem to be able to handle yourself quite well." Steve says, I nod in his direction but stay silent. When the elevator dings, the door opens and Steve and I calmly walk out, we are greeted by most of the avengers in the room. The tv is on as they all sit on the couch in the lounge, It is on mute since most of them are on their phones or reading, in Bruce's case. Tony turns his head in our direction and I stay completely still as I notice Natasha in the chair, next to Clint.**

"**The mysterious girl!" Tony says as he walks over to me and Steve. I raise an eyebrow at him and a woman, probably Virginia Potts, follows him. **

"**Monroe? Right?" He asks me, pouring me a glass of champagne which I politely decline. Natasha has yet to turn around, the others have done so already and are eyeing me with curiosity. **

"**So, tell me about your and cap's sex life." He says casually. **

"**We're not together." I say bluntly, that is what makes natasha turn around, Her green eyes are filled with recognition. **

"**But I do have a feeling you are going to continue teasing him so yeah, it's great." I say in a monotone voice, I can see out of the corner of my eye Steve blushing profusely. Everyone in the room laughs, including tony. I let out a small smile which is mostly just because of the red on Steve's face. I catch Natasha's eye, she is still intently staring at me, she looks happy, actually happy. **

"**V- Monroe?" She asks me, keeping my alias, thankfully.**

"**Hello." I say trying to keep my tone steady. The group looks at us strangely, we stay in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Bruce speaks up, **

"**There's something on the news." He says in a calm voice before unmuting the tv and letting the reporter speak. **

"**Recent news on the avengers, or shall we say one avenger, captain america has risen. Earlier this morning at around ten a.m he was spotted with a mystery girl. Later that hour gunshots could be heard and we managed to get some footage of the action." The woman with long brown hair says as she motions to a screen, which they zoom in on. It shows the footage of this morning when Steve and I took down the men at the shop. I can feel everyone's eyes on us as the screen cuts back to the woman. A man is seen sitting next to her in a professional looking suit,**

"**She was quite the fighter isn't she Sarah?" The man asks, looking at the picture of me holding the gun. It is in low quality but you can still barely make out my facial features. "Now is not the time Mark," She says in a joking tone and I roll my eyes. **

"**And I think she may already be taken by captain Rogers as they were spotted driving to avengers tower. Police are investigating the men murdered and reporters are outside avengers tower now." She says making me sigh and the rest of the avengers to stare at me. Bruce mutes the T.V once more before turning to look at me and Steve curiously. "And the truth comes out." Tony says staring at us, that actually almost makes me laugh because there is so much he will never know. So much no one will ever know. But I keep my poker face and my arms crossed tightly against my chest. **

"**So you two are on a coffee date and you get attacked then you have to protect your damsel in distress so you bring her here." Tony says sitting on a stool that is near the bar. **

"**I'm not a damsel in distress." I argue, annoyed.**

"**I can tell, seriously where did you learn to fight like that?" He asks me, clearly interested. **

"**I've had a lot of self defense classes." I lie easily. Natasha chuckles at this as does clint, they compose themselves easily as Bruce gives them a look.**

"**I like her, she's a keeper." Tony says motioning to me with his glass. **

"**Well, I guess if you're going to be staying here, I should introduce you to JARVIS." Tony says. I raise an eyebrow at him and he smirks before saying **

"**JARVIS, Please facial scan Monroe here." Tony says to the air. **

"**yes, sir." a male British voice says. **

"**Tony! You don't do that to guests!" Potts scolds him. **

"**I'm pepper by the way, I would have introduced myself earlier if I had the chance to talk." She says glaring at tony who raises his hands in defense. **

"**No recognition for Monroe sir," JARVIS says to tony.**

"**Hmpf, I must have to upgrade you again." He says, not at all suspicious about my lack of information.**

"**Do you have a gym?" I ask ignoring tony and pepper. **

"**Yeah, I'll show you." Steve says before waving at the people in the room and then motioning for me to get back in the elevator. I take a glance at Natasha who winks at me before turning around, I face forward once more and get in the elevator with Steve. He clicks the button number 7 and we wait while the elevator moves. **

"**So, why couldn't JARVIS find any information on you?" Steve asks, of course he figured it out. **

"**Must be broken." I say simply, before Steve gets a chance to say anything else the elevator door opens and we walk out into a hallway with pale walls and dark carpeting. There's a lounge with vending machines and a kitchen. Steve leads me to a large door, opening it to reveal a huge gym. I stare in awe at the high tech equipment and state of the art weapons that lay organized across the room.**

**"Nice." I say, some of the awe seeping through and into my usually monotone voice. **

**"I usually come here to relax or blow off some steam." He says walking over to the wraps, he grabs a blue one and I grab black wrap and begin to tightly wrap it around my hands. **

**"I can tell." I say nodding in the direction of his biceps. He laughs at this, and I blush. He then walks towards me and extends his arm, his goal to punch me, I block it easily and twist his arm. I make use of the wall near us and flip us, pushing him up against the wall. He kicks me in the shin and manages to knock me down. I flip us over once more so that I'm straddling him and I have my hand to his neck, my other hand holding his right. He doesn't move or try to fight back as I lean in closer. I wait until our faces are inches apart before slapping him across his face. **

**"Don't lose focus on the task at hand." I say standing and wiping the fake dust off of my hoodie for dramatic effect. Steve stays still before getting up quickly and blushing a bright red. We stare at each other for awhile, his gaze confused, mine probably the same. I'm the one who breaks the gaze when the door opens and Natasha walks in. **

**"Monroe? Can I talk to you?" She asks me. I slightly smile at Steve before walking past him. I can feel his eyes on me as I walk away. I swing my hips for effect and Natasha rolls her eyes at me. I chuckle and then close the door behind us. **

**"Don't mess with Steve." She says, humor in her voice. **

**"I'm not messing. Just having fun." I state stopping when we reach a corner. **

**"What happened to you being in New Mexico?" She asks me.**

**"I was caught. The cartel chased me here. I took down six of the men today." I say keeping a calm expression on my face. **

**"Good job." She says steadily. She looks at me as we stay in silence before pulling me in for a bone crunchingly tight hug. **

**"I thought you were dead." Natasha tells me, her voice cracking. I choke back a sob and hug her back. **

**"I know, I'm so sorry." I say, a tear slipping down my cheek and onto her shoulder. **

**"And Monroe? Really?" She asks pulling away. Her voice is slightly shaky but she keeps a straight face. **

**"What? Middle name." I say laughing lightly and using the back of my hand to wipe away my few tears. **

**"I'm glad you kept the hair." She says motioning to my bright red hair. **

**"I'm gonna have to dye it and change my appearance to try and stay hidden." I say, sadness outlining my words. **

**"We can always get stark to get you a job and have you wear pantsuits and pencil skirts." She suggests. I groan and Tasha laughs. **

**"It's kinda your only option sis." She says causing me to stop breathing before quickly regaining my composure. That was the first time she had called me her sister in five years.**

**"Fine, but you better not tell stark anything. Be vague." I tell her pointing a joking finger in her direction.**

**"That's what I do best." She says. I laugh and she smiles. **

**"So, you and Clint aye?" I ask her, nudging her arm. **

**"Yeah what about us?" She asks.**

**"So it's 'us' now? Does that mean something?" I ask her. **

**"Yeah." She says blushing. **

**"No way!" I exclaim acting like an actual girl. She smiles and blushes a brighter red. That's when we see Clint walking down the hallway and I start to laugh. **

**"Talking about me?" He asks walking over to Natasha and standing next to her. **

**"As always." I say smiling at him. **

**"It's really good to see you." He says pulling me into a hug which I return. He pulls away and stands back next to Natasha. **

**"So, cap found you in a coffee shop?" Clint asks me. **

**"We literally ran into each other." I say smiling slightly. **

**"Really?" Natasha asks.**

**"Yeah, I thought I was gonna have to punch him." I joke lightheartedly. They both chuckle and then I realize this is the most time I have spent smiling in the past three years. **

**"We are gonna ask stark to get her a job as a secretary or something." She tells Clint who nods in agreement.**

**"We just have to get stark to not ask a bunch of questions." Clint says looking at Natasha and then me. **

"**Can Stark be trusted?" I ask them. They look at me and nod. **

"**He may be a jackass but we can trust him." Natasha says making Clint laugh. **

"**Good, He better not make me do anything to stupid." I say annoyed. I hear the doors from the gym close and I watch as Steve walks over to us, sweaty and breathing slightly more than usual. **

"**Clint,Tasha, Monroe." He says waving slightly and walking on wards. I don't wave back, Just stare at him and snap back to look at Clint and Natasha. **

"**We'll talk to Stark as soon as we can. Dinner should be in three hours. You should get a nap though." Natasha tells me, sounding more like a mother than a sister. Which makes sense since she did practically raise me. **

"**Okay, I might actually." I say smiling slightly at them.**

"**Have fun, if you get lost just ask JARVIS." Clint says. They both nod at me before walking off together. I look around once they are gone and wait on the floor before deciding where to go. A little peaking around won't hurt. I walk towards the elevator and push a random button. The elevator rises and then stops. The doors open and pristine floors and perfect walls are revealed. I see the blonde woman walking around with a clipboard, her heels clicking on the tile. I try to close the elevator doors but she's already spotted me. She smiles brightly and waves enthusiastically rushing to reach the elevator in time, which she does.**

"**Hello Monroe!" She says happily. **

"**Hello." I say with just the right amount of enthusiasm. **

"**I just wanted to know if you would like to go to a girls day with Natasha and I?" She asks me. I am shocked by her offer and even more shocked that Natasha had agreed to a 'girls day'. **

"**Um, yeah sure." I say knowing that if I am staying here tonight the least I can do is pay her back by spending a 'girls day' with her. **

"**Wonderful! I was thinking this weekend! Maybe you could stay until then? I am sure Steve would like that." She says suggestively. **

"**Oh, we're not." I say shaking my head.**

"**But I'm sure you want to be." She says as the elevator descends. **

"**I don't do relationships." I answer honestly. **

"**They're lovely." She says smiling as the elevator dings and the doors open.**

"**This is his level. I'll see you at dinner, right?" She asks me. I smile slightly before waving as the elevator doors close. I shake my head at the name on the golden plate posted to the door, 'capsicle.'. I knock lightly on the door before walking in and seeing Steve on the couch reading a book, Music is playing lowly from the record player in the corner. "I'm back." I say simply, sitting down in the armchair near the couch that he is laying on. He looks at me and smiles, **

"**Hello." He greets.**

"**Hi." I say in my usual monotone voice. **

"**I didn't know you knew Natasha and Clint." He says, setting his newspaper beside him as he sits up straight. **

"**Yeah." I say growing more uncomfortable by the minute.**

"**You're a good fighter." He states. **

"**Uh, thanks." I say awkwardly. **

"**Do you want to see the rest of the apartment?" He asks me. I nod, not knowing what else to do.**

"**It's pretty small but a tour is always nice." He tells me, smiling. I say nothing in return. "Okay, so through that swinging door is the kitchen with all of the usual kitchen things, and then through that door is the bedroom and through that wooden door is an office." He says pointing to all the doors he is talking about. **

"**And then you'll use the bedroom while you stay here." He tells me. He seems so relaxed around me and here I'm standing, tense and awkward.**

"**Pepper invited me to go shopping with her." I blurt out into the silence. He turns his head to me and raises an eyebrow. **

"**Have fun with that, Nat told me she has no mercy when she shops." He tells me, humor lacing his voice. **

"**Wonderful." I say sarcastically as I look at the wall. **

"**You don't seem like the shopping type." He says. I laugh dryly.**

"**Never have been, never will be." I state, a smile tracing my lips. **

"**Never wanted dolls as a girl or anything?" He asks me. Somehow during this conversation we ended up moving to the couch, where we sat. **

"**Nope. Didn't have time for that." I say dully.**

"**What do you mean?" He asks me. **

"**Um, It's just, uh, my parents died when I was young." I say, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute.**

"**I'm really sorry." He says his voice thick with sympathy.**

"**It's fine. I'm over it." I say, my voice clear of any emotion. **

"**Would you mind telling me what happened? Talking about it sometimes helps." He tells me, his eyes traced with concern. **

"**They died when I was ten." I say monotonically. He nods, understanding that I don't want to share anymore. **

"**Who raised you then?" He asks, seeming like he can't help himself. **

"**My sister." I state. not being able to look him in the eyes. **

"**I had a friend, before I was frozen and, he uh, died." Steve says, his voice filled with sadness. I immediately feel for him, which is strange. Sympathy is not a subject I usually indulge in. **

"**How?" I ask, trying to keep my tone soft and not rude, because I know my usual tone is sometimes considered rude. He opens his mouth to speak when the door bursts open, revealing none other than tony stark. **

"**Capsicle! And strange mystery girl! It's time for dinner and pepper sent me to get you, against my interests obviously," He rambles and then looks at us. I raise an eyebrow at him. **

"**What is this? Some sort of heart to heart?" He asks. Even though I'm not looking at Steve I can feel him blushing besides me. **

"**Just talking." I say. He nods. **

"**Well, whatever. It's time for dinner, hurry up." He says before walking away and leaving the door open. **

"**Time to go." Steve says, back to his normal voice.**

**And first chapter done! Crossed off the list. Finished. Okay I'm done, anyways! I hope you enjoyed this little chapter thingie and I apologize for any mistakes I tried my best to fix them but ya know stuff happens. So please remember to review, follow and all that good stuff, But if you don't whatever. Okay Byeee! **

**-Bellsa. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! I didn't think this story was going to get any fans and there are reviews and follows and I love you guys so much like wow. Anyways I'm a horrible person for not updating but here it is! More chapters to come!**

I nod and follow him as he gets up off the couch and walks out of the apartment, closing the door behind us.

we walk off the elevator and onto the main floor where the rest of the avengers wait for us. (Not including thor.) there were various Chinese takeout containers on the counter and everyone was seated on the white couches, chatting.

There was a grand fireplace in the room, lit and lighting up the area.

When steve and I arrived stark immediately turned to us,

"Well if it isn't capsicle and mystery girl!" He exclaims.

I roll my eyes, retreating to an empty armchair in a somewhat non occupied area of the room.

Stark still managed to try and talk to me though.

"So how's cap in bed?" He asks humouressly, sipping his beer.

"Stark." Steve warns as he grabs a coke from the fridge.

Everyone waited to see how I would react to stark's antics.

"Well considering we aren't together I wouldn't know, but since I know you are going to continue to be annoying about the subject I will just say he's wonderful." I say annoyed, throwing in a fake smile at the end.

Everyone laughs and tony even flashes a smile.

I smirk a little.

Everyone returns to their conversations and I sit silently, not eating.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Steve asks me as he walks over to me.

"I'm fine thanks." I say somewhat politely.

Steve looks at me, concerned. But walks away anyways, knowing it's not his place.

I retum to my peaceful solitude and stare at the fire place, the flames swirling angry reds and oranges.

I turned sharply as I felt a tap on my shoulder, it was Natasha.

"Do you want anything to eat?" She asks me.

I sigh.

"No." I say simply.

"You need to eat." She tells me.

"I don't want to." I argue stubbornly.

"You're acting like a child, I just worry about-" she says, getting angry.

"Stop worrying about me." I say a little louder.

"Are you okay?" Steve asks me, walking over to probably try and calm me down.

"Jesus! Didn't you just hear me?! I don't know you people and I certainly don't need your help!" I scream angrily, my visom blurry as I stumble to the elevator, feeling light headed.

I press a random button, praying it's the gym.

As the doors open seemingly hours later I run unbalanced to the large doors, pushing them open and spotting the punching bag.

I run up to it, tears streaming down my face as I throw punch after punch until my fists hurt. I slump to the ground, finally passing out as the pain in my head becomes too unbearable.

I awake in a bed, encased in silky sheets.

I roll over, confused.

This was Steve's bed, but the question is how did I get here?

I climbed out of the bed and walked quietly down the hall, not making a sound as I see steve sitting in on the couch and reading.

Harry potter, he was reading harry potter.

I smile at his choice.

"Hi." I say simply. He looks up from his book and smiles at me.

"Hi." He says back, setting his book down.

"Harry potter, huh." I say, looking at the book.

Prisoner of Askaban.

"I heard it was good." He says.

"It is." I tell him.

"You've read it?" He asks me.

"I have some free time." I state.

I sit down on the couch next to him and look at the bookcase.

"Sorry, about earlier." I stutter out.

"It's fine. We all have those days." He shrugs.

"Those fucked up days?" I ask.

He looks at me as I swear, and I laugh.

He chuckles at my word choice.

"Yeah, those days."

"My life is a collection of fucked up days. I'm just fucked up in general."

"I understand that. I'm ninety five and all the people I knew are dead."

I bitterly laugh, "all the people I knew are dead too."

"Read to me." I say, laying back on the couch and putting my feet in my lap.

He seems shocked at my movements but reads to me nonetheless.

Soon I'm enveloped into the wizard world and then enveloped into sleep.

**AHHHHH! There it is! Okay well hope you enjoyed it and please review and follow, if you want to, up to you :)**

**-Bellsa**


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors note: Sorry last chapter was hella short, here's a somewhat longer one and dudes I love you guys so enjoy!**

My eyes flutter open as sunlight brushes over my skin. I squint and take a breath, trying to adjust to the light. I look up ahead and see Steve, his head leaning against the couch. He is still holding his book in his hands as he sleeps. I have a quilt over me and I pull it off gently.

I carefully remove my feet from Steve's lap so I don't wake him and look around. The clock on the wall says it is 6:10 A.M.

I sigh and know I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep.

I walk towards the door and decide to go down to the main kitchen. I ride the elevator to the floor and walk out when the door dings open.

No one is in the kitchen when I walk in. The mess from the other night has been cleaned up and the room is back to being completely spotless.

I sigh and walk over to the fridge, I open the door and look inside. The fridge is huge, I decide on some orange juice and pour myself a glass. I close the door and then lean against the counter, sipping my drink slowly. I can hear footsteps approaching and I look up, seeing Bruce walking into the kitchen. Already dressed in day clothes.

"Hello." He greets me quietly, walking over to the fridge and getting a water bottle. He sits down on the stool that is next to the counter and drinks his water. I look at him before the words slip out of my mouth.

"I'm sorry about last night. It was stress induced and I guess I just went insane." I say quickly, trying to keep my face straight. He looks up at me and says,

"It's fine. I know a little about stress." He jokes. I smile a little bit knowing about his other half.

"Tony was just a little worried, I mean me too. But, we thought we would leave you alone since Cap went after you." Bruce says taking a sip of his water.

"Oh." I say simply, not knowing what else I could say. I usually don't get this far into a conversation. It is silent for a few minutes before I hear loud talking and immediately know it's Stark.

"Mystery girl! Gave us a scare last night, you alright?" He asks, trying to be serious but Stark isn't someone who can ever act serious.

"I'm fine." I say sipping my drink so that I won't be questioned further. But Stark doesn't take the hint.

"Cap dove in to save you, the soldier saving the damsel in distress!" He exclaims dramatically making me roll my eyes.

"Where is Rogers anyways?" Natasha asks as she walks into the kitchen, hand in hand with Clint.

"Sleeping probably." I say simply.

"He's usually awake at this time, in the gym at least." Clint says.

"He went to sleep late." I answer, even though there wasn't a specific question. "Did he?" Tony says wiggling his eyebrows suggestedly.

"I'm sure you know all about why." He adds nudging Bruce in the arm.

"NO! I mean, No, When I woke up he was awake reading." I say defensively but then quickly trying to fix my mistake. It clearly isn't enough for Stark.

"Looks like he isn't captain virgin anymore." He says smiling.

"For gods sake!" I exclaim, blushing at Steve's nickname.

"Tony!" I hear someone shout, accompanied by the sound of heels. "Leave her alone!" She says, giving Tony a hard look.

"Are you girls ready for our day out?" She asks Natasha and I happily.

"That's today?" I ask them. Pepper nods. "Oh. uh. Cool." I stutter out awkwardly. "I'll uh go get ready then." I say quickly walking away from the kitchen and going back to my usual scowl as I turn my back. I push open the door that says 'stairs' and run quickly up the steps until I see the door that I know leads to Steve's apartment.

When I open the door I can hear the faint sound of shower water running. I walk into the bedroom and quickly grab my bag before practically running out of the room. I walk into the living room and decide to go into the office. I close the door and look for a lock, not finding one. I shrug and know there is a very small possibility that anyone will walk in.

I take off my shirt and sift through my bag, I grab a dark blue shirt and then some black skinny jeans. I take off the remainder of my clothes and begin to change. I quickly pull over my shirt and put on my skinny jeans before grabbing my black hoodie and putting it on. I walk to the mirror in the office and put on some foundation, setting it with my powder, and then applying mascara before grabbing my chapstick and placing everything neatly back in my bag. I lace up my converse and look at myself one last time in the mirror before I pull the bag over my shoulders and walk out, finding Steve in the living room, already dressed.

His hair is a bit damp but he runs his hand through it anyways when he sees me. It must be some sort of nervous tick around girls. He's been asleep for ninety years without talking to anyone. And from what I saw he must not have been that experienced in the first place, It was understandable.

I look away from him and play with the hair tie on my wrist. Should I put my hair up?

"I think it'll look good either way." Steve says, making my head snap in his direction.

"I said that out loud didn't I?" I ask him. He nods in response and I chuckle before running my fingers through my wavy hair and deciding that it is fine.

"I have to go shopping today." I say miserably.

"Pepper is taking you Christmas shopping with her?" He asks me. I look at him and raise an eyebrow.

"Christmas?" I ask him. He nods, confusion on his features, probably on mine as well.

"I guess time just slipped away from me." I mumble.

"Yeah, I understand." He says leaning against the counter.

"I should get going before she hauls me down." I say waving shortly before walking towards the stairs and then down them. I reach the main room in only a matter of minutes to see Natasha and Pepper already chatting.

Natasha is almost smiling as Pepper uses enthusiastic hand motions.

"Monroe!" She exclaims when she sees me, immediately going in for the hug. "Hello Pepper." I greet, not even close to matching her enthusiasm.

"You ready?" She asks me, pulling a shiny leather bag over her shoulder. I manage a smile and a nod before she turns around and walks out, having Natasha and I follow her.

"Shopping doesn't seem like your thing." I whisper to Natasha as Pepper talks urgently with someone on her phone.

"It's Christmas, I have things to buy." She says.

"Oh, yeah." I say slowly.

"You forgot it was christmas didn't you?" She asks me. I nod.

"It's not like I got to celebrate it, it isn't important anymore." I say quietly, remembering the christmases I spent hiding in the woods, barely living but just alive enough to suffer.

"Well, you have someone to spend it with now." She says smiling slightly at me. I raise an eyebrow.

"I can't stay until Christmas." I say. I leave out the part where I say I'm planning to sneak out tonight so I don't have to say goodbye. Because goodbyes suck. Her small smile fades into a frown.

"Why not?" She asks me.

"I-It's not safe, These people are chasing me and no one is going to get hurt because of it." I say quickly.

We have come to a full stop now since Pepper had told us to wait in the lobby. "You are in one of the most secure places in the country, And you'll have superheroes with you. How safe can you get?" She asks me. I shrug.

"I could be alone. Without the risk of losing anyone." I say grimly.

"You won't lose us. I know you won't let that happen." She tells me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"It's stil-" I say, Natasha cuts me off. "You're staying for christmas, I know Steve will protect you." She says suggestively. I roll my eyes.

"I don't understand why everyone is saying that!" I exclaim, laughing. "Because, We know he stares at you and I know how oblivious you are. It's fun." She states. Her statement hits me right in the face and I am taken aback. She can tell and she laughs hysterically, clutching her ribs as she tries to regain control. I smile at her as Pepper walks towards us with three envelopes in hand.

"Here ya go." She says handing me and Natasha one, and then keeping one for herself. I look at Natasha who thanks Pepper and I do the same.

"I can't accept this." I say slowly. Pepper looks at me and laughs.

"Don't be ridiculous! It's christmas!" She says happily.

I smile at her enthusiasm and put the envelope in my pocket.

"Let's go!" She says walking quickly towards the door, leading us to the car. We get in the shiny black vehicle and begin to drive away, probably to the mall. "I already know what I'm going to get all the guys' I'm really excited! They'll love them." She says smiling at us brightly.

"I have no idea what I'm getting Clint." Natasha says sighing.

"You know him the most, Shouldn't that make it easier?" Pepper asks her.

"No." Natasha says sighing again.

"I'm sure we could help. What are you going to get Steve Monroe?" She asks me. I look at her and blink.

"No idea." I say simply, even though I have a pretty good one.

"Um, after shopping or whatever could we stop by my old apartment if I'm going to be staying I need to get a few more things." I say looking out of the window. "Of course." Pepper says as we pull up to the large mall.

"Time to get shopping!" Pepper says in an almost singsong voice.

"Yay." I mumble boredly. She doesn't catch it but Natasha does and she nudges me in my arm, I look at her as she gives me a sharp look. I sigh and cross my arms. This is going to be a long trip.

**I sure hope that was satisfactory! Anyways thank you and you know the drill with the whole reviewing and following thing :)**

**-Bellsa**


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note: Hello again! I've been updating a lot and I've also been debating when my scheduled update day should be. Probably Saturday or Sunday. I'll think about it more and choose, and then tell you guys. Anyways, I love this chapter because it's just SO CUTE. I hope you enjoy it too! **

**-Bellsa**

We have been walking for hours.

HOURS.

We've barely even found anything! Pepper bought me a bag, Natasha got a few things that she has refused to show us and I have purchased the hunger games trilogy for Clint, He should get a kick out of that.

"I know where to go next." Pepper says motioning to a Victoria's secret. I groan. They both laugh.

"Come on! You could find something you like!" She says nudging me. I smile at her but still feel against going into the store. I follow them in anyways, saying,

"I thought we were shopping for other people."

"You can't go shopping and not get yourself anything!" Pepper exclaims dramatically.

I laugh at her ridiculousness before dragging myself into the store.

"Can I just get a coffee or something?" I groan.

"We'll get coffee later!" Natasha says physically pulling me into the shop.

"It's not like I'm going to get anything why drag me in here?" I ask her.

"Because you need some cute pajamas! And maybe some bras!" Pepper says already sifting through the racks. I give her a look.

"How about these?" Natasha asks making me turn my head in her direction. She is standing near a rack and holding a matching set of bra and underwear, stitched on the back of the underwear is the captain America shield.

It's so ridiculous I begin to laugh hysterically. They both join me and pepper pulls out some tony stark ones.

"I'm so getting these, he will love them." She says in a singsong voice. I shake my head at her.

"I'm gonna look at the sweat pants and stuff." I say walking over to the clothes area, then making sure they aren't looking at me I go into the makeup and perfume section on the store. I grab a lotion and perfume pack along with a makeup collection for pepper, pay for them and grab a pair of sweatpants for me too. I walk back over to them to see them both holding bags and chatting.

"Coffee?" Natasha asks me, I nod.

We walk to the food court, pepper talking about some sort of gossip as I observe all the people around me. When we reach the food court Natasha takes our orders and walks away to get our coffees.

I sit with pepper at a table and she begins talking about someone being pregnant.

I nod at the right parts and she seems satisfied with my reactions.

Natasha comes back minutes later with a tray holding our coffees, I take my iced one and bite on the straw. I can feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and i reach for it, Confused as to who could be texting me.

_Unknown number: Hello Monroe, It's Steve. Natasha gave me your number. Just wanted to check to see if everything is okay._

I involuntarily smile at his message and how proper he texts, I've never been one for abbreviations but I never text anyone to get too bothered by it.

Natasha looks up at me, sipping her hot chocolate.

"Did you give Steve my number?" I ask her. She nods.

"Thought it would be good practice for him, I know you'll be texting him a lot." She says wiggling her eyebrows. I shake my head at her.

"Did he text you?" Pepper asks me, her eyes wide. I nod.

"What did he say?" She asks, practically jumping across the table.

"Just to see if we were okay." I say, holding my phone tightly to my lap.

"What are you going to say back?" She asks, As if the answer isn't obvious.

"That we are fine." I say simply.

"Throw in an emoji or something." Natasha says jokingly, making me laugh. I type out my message,

_Yeah, we are fine. Pepper and Natasha are teaming up on me to buy clothes, It's horrible._

I type and also add his contact to my phone, putting him as "_Cap"_. The girls look at me, waiting.

"That seemed like a lot of typing." Natasha says suspiciously.

"What else did you put?" Pepper finishes for her.

"God, nothing. Calm down." I say laughter in my voice. They go back to their coffees and begin chatting. My phone buzzes minutes later. I look down and smile at his text.

_Cap: I could always pick you up, if you want._

I almost laugh at his hesitation, even in texting he is somewhat awkward. I start to type back, a smile still tracing my lips.

_It's good, They need me here, I'm the only sane one in the bunch. Besides, I still have more presents to buy._

I reread my text, make sure it fits my satisfaction before hitting send and looking back up to see Natasha and Pepper staring at me intently.

"what?" I ask, looking at their serious expressions.

"What else did he say?" Pepper asks,

"We heard your phone buzz." Natasha adds.

"You were smiling." Pepper says smiling herself as she states the known fact. "Nothing." I say nonchalantly, Just then my phone buzzes again and I inwardly groan. They look at me again and I sigh. "Read us the whole conversation." Pepper demands, like a teenager who just found out her friend got her crushes' number. I look at them before looking back down at my phone to read my text.

_Cap: Haha, Another time?_

I smile at his text again but then bite my lip.

"WHAT?" Pepper asks dramatically.

"If someone asks you another time, Does that mean something?" I ask innocently. "OH MY GOD WHAT!" she practically shouts. She runs over to me and takes my phone, scrolling through the few texts and then handing them to Natasha.

"Oh honey." Pepper says dramatically. "What?" I ask wondering what I did wrong.

"Just say yes." She says handing me my phone back.

"What did I do?" I ask her, suddenly worried.

"Let's just get back to shopping." She says pulling me from my seat. I quickly text Steve back.

_Yeah, sure. Sounds good._

We walked for another two hours before Pepper decided we were good. We also took a 'break' to get a spa treatment, which I had to admit was amazing.

My muscles have been permanently tense for about a year now. When we are sitting in the car silently, pepper speaks up.

"You said you needed to go back to your house for a few things?" Pepper reminds me. I nod my head and Pepper tells Happy where to go, after she looks up my address on her phone.

We pull up to the familiar apartment and I get out off the car, motioning for Pepper and Natasha to stay in the car and wait for me.

I quickly walk into the building and stay hidden from the people in the lobby as I slink down the hallways that lead to my room. When I reach my door, I quietly pick the lock and slip in. The five men still lay on the floor, they clearly haven't found the crime scene yet. The people here don't really know me, I stay hidden, quiet. They probably haven't even noticed my absence. I step over the bodies and crinkle my nose at the smell of decaying flesh.

I walk into my room and grab my leather bag, I go into my closet and grab my journal, a pair of leather skinny jeans, another hoodie, and then I go into the living room and collect my Beatles and Elvis albums.

I place everything in the bag. I look around one last time thinking of what I've forgotten. As I am looking around A violent knock shakes the door. I sigh and walk back to the bedroom. I can hear the door being kicked down as I open the window and swiftly drop down, Landing on the dumpster. I slide down onto the gravel and start to run back to the car, my bag securely at my shoulder. I open the car door swiftly and close it shut.

"You might want to drive quickly." I suggest looking in the back window to see the several police cars that surround the building.

"Why what did you do?" Natasha asks and Happy steps on the gas, speeding to the highway so that we can get back to Avengers tower.

"Well." I say looking over at Pepper.

"I can handle it. What did you do." She says seriously.

"You know how those guys are chasing me?" I asked Natasha. She nodded and Pepper looked like she had a question but she kept it in.

"I may have killed five of them at my apartment." I say looking out the window. Natasha chuckles.

"We'll cover it up." She says reassuringly. "You could be the next superhero." Pepper says.

"With all the black and leather you wear, it will be easy to convince them." Pepper jokes. We all laugh and I grab my phone from my pocket to see that Steve had texted me, several times, while I was in the house. Pepper immediately looks over to read them as I skim over them.

_Cap: Are you okay? Your place is on the news._

_Cap: The cops are there, they are saying that a neighbor reported the smell of dead people?_

_Cap: Who did you kill? Was it those one guys?_

I sigh and quickly text something back.

_Why are you even watching the news? You're a superhero shouldn't you be saving someone?_

I can feel Pepper wanting to say something but I put my hand up to signify that I don't need her advice or comments at the moment. Steve texts back within seconds.

_Cap: Apparently I need to be saving you._

I bite my lip to keep from smiling at his text and type something back

_I don't need saving. We've been over this._

I put my phone in my lap and wait anxiously for him to reply as we drive back to the tower.

**Author's note: And there's the chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! You guys know the drill, bye! :)**

**-Bellsa**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I couldn't help myself but update again. Just so you guys know I have actually written a lot of the fic for one of my friends but I decided to post it, so a lot is written. I'm currently just rereading it and then copy and pasting it into the thingie. I am still writing the fic but at a different point. Hopefully that doesn't upset anyone if it does sorry. Okay I'm done talking, Enjoy!**

**-Bellsa**

"What guys are Natasha and Steve talking about?" Pepper asks me curiously, already preparing the bags on her arm so that she can carry them in.

I grab a few too and position them on my arms.

"Long story, one I don't really want to get into right now." I say simply, not looking at her.

Happy pulls up in front of the building and I manage to smile at him as Pepper, Natasha, and I climb out of the car.

Pepper talks nonsense as we walk to the elevator and ride to the main floor. When we step out Pepper abruptly stops talking and I have to look up from my feet to see what has her so shocked.

My jaw almost drops when I see it. A large Christmas tree has been placed in the corner of the room. The Avengers surround it, decorating the tree.

Tony is in his suit and getting the ornaments on the higher part of the tree. Steve is placing ornaments randomly as Bruce stands on a chair to help Tony.

Clint stays on the ground with Steve and helps him with that part of the tree. I stare at them as they work and they turn around to see us.

"Like it?" Tony asks us. I nod.

And Pepper begins to ask all sorts of questions. I tune her out and walk back to the elevator, going unnoticed as I go back to Steve's room to set down my bags. When I reach the door I have to put a bag in my mouth so that I can open it.

When I open the door and walk in I walk to the bedroom and throw my bags on the bed, then myself. I never realized how exhausted I was from all of the shopping. Nevermind the walking, Pepper's enthusiasm is enough to make anyone tired.

I close my eyes and plan to rest for a few minutes before going back downstairs. Before I know it my breathing has steadied and I've fallen into a deep sleep.

I awake covered in blankets and laying properly in the bed, I sit up and see my bags placed neatly on the floor.

I get out of the bed and twist, popping my back.

I open the door and walk out into Steve's living room. I see no sign of him, I shrug it off and go to the kitchen, walking through the swinging door. I open the pristine white fridge and grab a water bottle. I screw open the cap and lean against the cold granite counter as I slowly sip the water. I walk out of the kitchen awkwardly, still not comfortable in the apartment. I stood in the living room, searching for something to do.

I saw a bookshelf in the corner and I walked over to it. It was a rather large bookshelf and it was almost full, I never really thought of Steve as a big reader. I skimmed the titles and picked a random book.

I walked over to the recliner and curled up in it. I opened the book and began to read. I read for at least an hour before Steve walked back into the apartment, sweaty and holding a water bottle. I closed my book and looked at him.

"There is someone downstairs who wants to see you." He says seriously. I raised an eyebrow at him and set the book on the small table next to the recliner. i climbed out of it and stood up to face him.

"who?" I asked taking another sip of water.

"Director Nick Fury." And with that he walked into his bedroom, leaving me stunned and with nothing else to do but go downstairs.

I climb down the stairs, playing with the sleeves of my hoodie. I've heard of director fury and to be honest he seems terrifying. I reach the door to the main room and hesitate before opening it and slowly walking out into the room.

There stands a man in a leather trenchcoat and an eyepatch. I bite my lip nervously as I approach him. He turns to face me quickly and I stand before him, my posture perfect.

"Miss. Romanoff." He says nodding at me. I clench my jaw at my given last name and nod before saying ,

"director Fury, A pleasure to finally meet you." I say stiffly, extending my hand, which he ignores. I resist the urge to roll my eyes as I put my arm back down at my side.

"Please take a seat." He tells me. I walk over to the couch and sit down. I cross my legs and place my hands on my knees.

"I would like to talk to you about joining shield." He tells me. My eyes widen in shock.

"S-Shield?" I stutter out. He nods.

"Yes, We believe you have the potential of a good agent Romanoff." He tells me, his hands folded respectively in front of him. "Call me Vera." I say simply.

"Well Vera, I believe you have a decision to make." He says. I have a feeling this isn't something I get to choose.

"Fine." I say, no excitement in my voice at all.

"We'll have Cap teach you the ropes. Nice meeting you Vera." He says before walking away and slamming the door behind him. I roll my eyes at his drama and throw myself on the couch. What even are the ropes? Why the ropes? You think he would have a cooler name for it.

I pull myself off of the couch and back into the elevator.

I go back up to Steve's room and when I open the door I see him sitting on the couch, reading.

"What was it Fury needed?" He asks me, looking up from his book to look at me as I take a seat next to him.

"Apparently I'm a part of shield now and you have to teach me 'the ropes'" I say putting air quotes around 'the ropes'. "Wait, what?" He asks me putting his book down.

"Yep." I say looking at the tv.

"So Agent monroe?" He asks me.

"You're worried about my agent name?" I ask him looking around for the remote. He looks at me for an answer. I sigh and say, "It's agent Vera." He raises a blonde eyebrow at me and I look away.

"Have you seen Star Trek?" I ask him, still avoiding his gaze. He shakes his head.

"I haven't seen most things from this century, or most of the last one." He jokes, I chuckle before standing up and saying "I'll be right back, I have a feeling Clint has a copy."

"What floor is he on?" I ask Steve.

"Six." He says watching me walk towards the door.

"Wait! So you're a part of shield now and instead of discussing it we are going to watch movies?" He asks me. I stick my head out and say "Yep." before walking towards the stairs and going down one level to hopefully get Star Trek from Clint.

**Author's Note: Okay so short chapter but it is a chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! Bye, and you know what to do. :)**

**-Bellsa**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: I can not help myself from updating! I have a lot of the fanfic so why not? But I did decide to limit myself for every other day. For two reasons, updating every day is a little excessive and school is unfortunately upon me. But, Once I do get caught up with updating I will be posting a new chapter every Sunday. If the schedule is changed I will tell you but enough of me talking, Enjoy the story! **

**-Bellsa**

I knocked on his door twice before waiting only a few seconds for Clint to come out. He opened the door and smiled at me before opening it wider so I could come in.

Natasha was curled up on the couch watching some sort of detective show. I smirked and looked at Clint who rolled his eyes at me.

"Do you have star trek?" I ask him suddenly.

"Uh, yeah. Both of them." He says.

"Why do you need Star Trek?" Natasha speaks up, her voice gravelly.

"Um." I say awkwardly.

"Steve and I are going to watch it." I say looking straight at her to show it means nothing.

"Oooo movie night with the captain." She teases.

"Looks like you're having your own little date night." I tease right back.

"Yes, but we are actually together." She says looking at Clint.

"Just shut up. It isn't a date. Do you have the movie or not?" I ask them. They both laugh and Natasha gets up to retrieve two movies for me.

"Here, but before you go." She says handing me the movies and walking to the kitchen, I can hear her open a cabinet before walking back to me.

A wine bottle in her hand. I look at the fine print on the bottle and raise an eyebrow, "Sassicaia" I ask turning my head slightly at them.

"Just a little congratulations." She says handing me the bottle.

"So, we are celebrating with one of the most expensive wines in Italy?" I ask her. "Fury told us about you being a part of shield now." Natasha says. I nod, "Thanks, we'll share the wine sometime." I tell her, holding it carefully.

"Nope, you are going to go drink that wine with a handsome captain who needs to watch Star Trek." Natasha says nudging me. Clint clears his throat and Natasha looks at him,

"Sorry sweetie." She says smiling at him. I laugh and look at her.

"I don't think that's necessary." I say. "The man can't get drunk, and it takes you awhile, have fun, Live a little!" She says. I look at her.

"He can't get drunk?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"Lucky bastard." I mumble making them laugh.

"Now go! Don't keep him waiting." Natasha says practically pushing me out of the door.

She shuts the door behind me and I smile slightly and walk up the steps, The wine still safely in my hands. I open the door, putting the Wine and Movies in the air dramatically.

"Wine?" He asks me, laughing a little. "Natasha said it was a congratulations on being a part of Shield." I explain setting the wine on the counter and looking around in his cabinets for some glasses. "Ah." I say finding some and placing two on the counter. I grab pop the cork with my fingers and pour us both half a glass. I walk over, holding the two glasses and movies. "We are starting with the newest ones first." I say handing him his glass and then placing mine on the table. I open the movie and put the disk in, we wait for it start and I pick up my glass and raise it, "Cheers." I say as Steve raises his glass and they clink together.

Five glasses of wine later for me I'm talking about why Leather was chosen for couches, I'm also leaning against Steve as I'm curled up on the couch. My head is on his chest and he's laughing at my ridiculousness.

"Seriously though, why leather? Why not wood?" I slur. I move to reach for my glass and Steve stops me,

"Let's switch to water." He suggests, getting up to grab me a water bottle. I scoff at him and take the bottle he gives me. He sits back down and I curl back into his side.

"What's your favorite color?" I ask him, my eyes closed.

"Blue." He says humor in his voice. "Cool." I say drowsily.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed." He says trying to get up but I grip his shirt and he looks at me.

"Stay herrreee." I whine.

"Okay…" He says sitting back down.

"I don't want to move." I say snuggling up to him and breathing in his cologne. "Just go to bed." He says gently placing a kiss on my forehead before covering me with a blanket. I drift off to Steve's arm around me.

I awake the next morning with arms around me. I open my eyes and realize that my head is throbbing and, woah, I'm laying with Steve on a couch.

I do the first thing someone would do. Panic. I try to get up but my head is pounding. This unfortunately wakes Steve up and he blushes.

I blink tiredly at him.

"Do you have any aspirin?" I ask him hopefully. Steve shakes his head.

"Ask Tony." He says, awkwardly unwrapping his arms from my torso. I chuckle and walk towards the elevator, pushing the button that leads to Tony's floor. I look at the cold metal and press my burning head against it.

"What the hell?" I hear Tony ask when the elevator opened.

"I drank a lot of wine last night." I explain rubbing my temples.

"With spangles?" He asks me, already walking to his cabinet.

"Yes, with _Steve." _I say emphasizing his actual name.

"You know he can't get drunk right?" He asks me. I nod.

"I have no idea what I even said." I admit, rubbing my forehead.

"Did you pronounce your love?" Tony asks me, twirling dramatically with his hands over his heart.

"Will you shut up." I say, more as a demand than a request.

"Never." He says handing me two aspirins and a water. I happily take them and sip the water.

"Thanks." I tell him sighing.

"Maybe run it off or something? I don't know. Sleeping usually helps but you don't seem like you want to back to Capsicle's floor." He says.

"Yeah, I'd like to avoid that discussion." I say.

"How do you know you even said anything bad? What do you even have to hide?" Tony asks me.

"I am so not having a heart to heart with Tony Stark." I say. He gives me a serious look and I sigh.

"Well, I woke up on the couch and lets just say I wasn't the only one who slept on that couch." I say sipping my water again. "Oooooo, nice one." He says smiling at me.

"And everyone has secrets Stark." I say turning to go down the stairs.

I can hear him laugh behind me as I jog down the stairs. I stop walking and decide to go up to Natasha and Clint's level. I'll need to borrow some clothes if I am going to go running. I run up the steps and knock on their door, Natasha opens it quickly and smiles when she sees me. "Good morning, What's up?" She greets me.

"Hey, Just thought I'd go running, would you mind if I borrowed some running clothes?" I ask her. She looks at me, "Running off a hangover?" She asks me. I nod, laughing.

"Why not just use yours? avoiding Steve or something?" She asks me jokingly. My silence tells her she was right.

"Woah, what did you do?" She asks me. I gasp dramatically at her accusation.

"Why would it be me?" I defend. "Because, Steve is the most gentlemanly person ever, and you don't show emotion." She teases.

"Just, get me the clothes." I say rolling my eyes at her.

She nods and lets me wait on the couch as she walks to her room to grab me some workout clothes.

She comes back minutes later with capri yoga pants, and a purple workout shirt. She hands them to me, also a hair tie which I smile at her for knowing I like my hair up.

"Can i change in the bathroom here?" I ask her.

She nods before going into her kitchen. I walk to the bathroom and close the door behind me before quickly changing and throwing my hair up into a messy bun.

I walk out and nod at Natasha before walking out of the room and running down the stairs. I run to the lobby and out the doors, ignoring the strange looks from the doormen.

**Author's note: Hope you enjoyed that cute little chapter! Also, Thank you so much to all the people reviewing, following and favoriting the story! You guys make my day when you do that! Okay, well thank you again and do your stuff! **

**-Bellsa**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: I can not stop updating someone pull me away from the computer. **

**-Bellsa**

I breathe in the cold december air as I run freely down my usual path.

I run for awhile before I see someone ahead of me. It's pretty obvious I'm going to pass them so as I come up past them I say,

"On your left." I can hear him sigh as I speed past them and say something like, "Why is everyone faster than me?" I stop running and look at him from behind me.

"Huh?" I ask him. He jogs up to me and says,

"There's this guy, super fast, always passes me." He tells me.

"Practice makes perfect." I say barely breathing heavily.

"Wanna grab a smoothie?" He asks me motioning to the smoothie stand only a few feet away. I hesitate before nodding slowly.

We walk towards the stand, and I feel my phone buzz in my pocket, I ignore it and look at the order board as the man asks me what I would like to order,

"Uh, banana." I say simply.

"Thanks." I add, remembering that manners exist.

"here ya go." He says handing me my smoothie as he sips his own. I follow him to a table that is near the stand and I feel my phone buzz again. I sigh before checking it.

Cap: _Hello, Are you doing okay?_

Cap: _Natasha told me you went for a run, stay safe._

I almost smile at his texts but only realize how I've ruined this friendship with my drunkness.

"You okay?" The guy asks me. I nod. "Just a text from Steve." I say casually. "Steve?" He asks me. I sigh realizing how I just said his name to a complete stranger.

"Like, Rogers?" He asks. I nod slowly. "Oh! I know him." He says his eyes lighting up at the recognition.

"A lot of people have heard of him." I say sipping my drink.

"No, I actually met the guy. He's the one who always passes me. Is he your boyfriend or something?" He asks me, I groan. He gives me a quizzical look.

"Why does everyone ask that!" I exclaim. He widens his eyes at my sudden outburst and I sigh at myself.

"I'm sorry." I say, ashamed.

"It's fine. What's going on?" He asks me. "I am not talking to a random stranger about my problems." I say annoyed, but not at him, more at myself.

"My name is Sam wilson, Not a stranger anymore am I?" He says. I shake my head, "I guess not." I say.

"So, go on." He tells me gesturing with his hand. I place my head on the table and say,

"I don't even know where to start." He chuckles at my behavior.

"Start with why you were out running, you seemed to have a lot on your mind." He says helpfully.

"I was running off a hangover." I say simply.

"Was that all?" He pushes. I lift my head off of the table and shake my head slowly at him.

"I was trying to avoid Steve." I say.

"The built runner dude? You were avoiding him?" Sam asks me humorlessly. I laugh a little before saying.

"Yep."

"I'm going to take a wild guess you did something while you were drunk." He asks, setting down his smoothie to place his head in his hand while he looks at me. I nod,

"More like what I probably did." I add. "Probably did?" He asks me.

"We woke up, together. On a couch." I say slowly.

"Ooo, and that's bad why?" He asks me. "I'm gonna have to work with this guy. What if I said something?" I ask theoretically.

"Do you have anything to hide? What would you have said?" He asks me, almost the same thing Stark had asked me this morning.

"I don't. I mean." I say stuttering and trying to find something to say.

"I know Steve he wouldn't have just let me sleep on the couch, let alone sleep with me on the couch." I say, deciding on a somewhat intelligent sentence.

"And you think you said something to make him stay?" He asks me.

I nod. It's silent for a few minutes while Sam thinks.

"Why don't you just act like nothing happened and if he brings up then go with it." He suggests.

I sigh and say, "But what if I said something embarrassing?" I ask him. "Then you must have meant it, just think about it, If you told him you liked him what is the worst thing that could happen?" He asks me. I shrug,

"A lot of things actually." I say going through the extensive list in my mind. "Just go with it." He says sipping his smoothie.

"You just went hippie on me there." I joke lightheartedly. He laughs and I join. That's when I feel my phone buzz. I grab it and see the familiar contact name, I look at Sam before clicking 'answer'.

"Hello?" I greet, Sam is keeping his gaze on me and gives me the thumbs up.

"Hello, Just wanted to make sure you were okay. When do you think you will be back? Pepper wanted to talk to you about Christmas." Steve tells me, his deep voice filling the phone.

"Yeah, Sorry, I kinda freaked and then stopped for a smoothie, I'll be back soon. And tell Pepper I call making the desserts." I say tapping my fingers on the table.

"Okay, I call helping." he says sweetly. "Bye, Steve." I say smiling.

"Bye Vera." He says using my actual name, and I can tell he is smiling too as I hang up the phone.

"Wow, that didn't go horribly." I say relieved.

"So, Vera." He says. I roll my eyes at him. "Listening in on phone conversations, Classy." I remark sarcastically. He ignores me but chuckles anyways.

"Cool name." He points out. I smile.

"Well, I better get going." I say standing up, holding my smoothie in my hand. "Thanks for the advice, and the smoothie." I say gratefully. Nodding my head at him before turning around. He salutes me as I walk away back to Stark tower.

I was at Stark tower within minutes since I was running. I had barely noticed the brisk air and the people with large coats around them.

When I entered the building the warm air hit me, I shivered and then proceeded to go to the elevator to talk to Pepper about Christmas.

I entered the Living room to be greeted by all the Avengers and I mean ALL.

A large man was currently talking to Cap and when he saw me he walked over to me to greet me.

"Hello lady Vera." He says kindly, kissing my hand. I almost laughed at his behavior but smiled at him.

"Hello Thor." I said looking over at Cap to smile at him but he had turned away, his arms crossed.

I frowned and smiled at Thor before walking over to Cap.

I tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hi." I said lightly as he turned around. "Hello." He said formally. I looked at him strangely. It was quiet for awhile as we awkwardly looked at each other.

"Were you okay out in the cold?" He asks me kindly. I nod,

"Yeah, It wasn't a problem." I respond, twiddling my thumbs awkwardly.

"Oh man, this is really bad. Are you both socially awkward?" Stark barges in, a cup in hand.

"Shut up Tony." I tell him, Blushing. "Seriously though, It's hurting me to witness this." He says sipping his drink. "Where's Pepper?" I ask him, annoyed. "On the couch." He says, taking my spot across from Cap as I walk towards Pepper, releasing a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"Pepper, Cap said you wanted to talk to me?" I ask her, taking a seat next to her on the lavish leather couch.

"Yes, I just wanted to know what you wanted to do with christmas dinner. I always make the guys contribute something. It's a tradition. But since I will be forcing you to stay for christmas I wanted to know if you would like to help." She says sipping champagne from her polished glass.

I smile at her 'Forcing' comment but respond quickly.

"I'm fine with making desserts."

"Really? I didn't know you were one for baking." She says shocked by my hidden skill.

I shrug and look forward as Tony climbs onto the table.

"So, Apparently. Mrs. Scowl over here joined Shield and didn't tell me." He says looking over at me humorlessly.

"It's miss." I point out, hoping to annoy him.

"yeah, whatever. Anyways, We need to think up a code name!" He exclaims dramatically. I roll my eyes.

"I think I'm fine." I say leaning back comfortably into the couch.

"Everyone has one! It's not fair for you to be left out!" He says loudly.

"No, seriously, I'll make do." I say, trying to end the subject.

"Nope, Don't think so. What do you think about Lady America? The scowler?" He asks.

"No and No." I say ignoring him.

"What do you fight with?" Cap asks me. I look over at him and see he is wearing his leather jacket and khakis. The look suits him.

"Knives." I answer easily. Everyone looks at me surprised but I shake it off.

"You wear a lot of black." Natasha adds. I can hear Tony mutter something but I ignore it.

"Something shadow." Cap suggests. I nod at him, liking the idea.

"I like the word mystic." Pepper says. I almost laugh at her comment but go with it anyways.

"Mystic shadow." I try, letting the words easily roll off of my tongue.

"You could be an avenger." Tony adds hopefully.

"Yeah right." I scoff,

"I am just a simple agent as of now, I don't even think Fury thinks I am worthy of a code name." I say half jokingly, half seriously.

"Everyone needs a codename." A kind but professional voice says, coming from behind me. I turn around quickly to see a man in a suit, A small smile on his lips. "Coulson! Hadn't seen you since New york, I was very happy to know you weren't dead by the way." Tony says, now sitting on the table instead of standing on it.

"Yeah, Not being dead is pretty nice." He says smiling at us.

Everyone laughs at his statement and I chuckle a little before he returns to having a serious edge to him.

"I am here to discuss something with Agent Vera." Coulson says, looking over at me.

"I still don't understand the Vera thing." Stark mutters.

"Shut it Stark." Natasha warns as I get up from the couch to face coulson.

"Yes?" I ask him, keeping my posture straight, which isn't usually a problem. "We have your first assignment." He tells me, handing me a file. I read the front and give coulson a look.

"Why this? I mean I'd love to but-" I say, holding the file safely at my side.

"We know you work well with him, It is simple and Fury trusts you with it." Coulson tells me.

"I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting to know him." He whispers, only for me to hear.

I roll my eyes at him, he laughs and everyone looks at us like we are crazy. "Fine, But I will be telling him." I say. Coulson nods at me and then waves at everyone else before walking out of the room and probably towards the elevator. "First mission, Eh?" Tony asks me. I nod and hold onto the file tightly.

"What is it?" He asks me, walking towards me.

"Confidential." I say with a wink, slipping the file into my shirt.

"You think I won't grab it from under there?" Stark asks me flirtatiously causing me to scoff at his behavior.

"You better not!" Pepper and Steve say at the same time, Steve protectively walking over to me.

I laugh at them and stick my tongue out at Tony as Steve stands near me.

"Sheesh, I wasn't actually going to do it." Stark says, his voice low and Embarrassed? I laugh at him and take the file out from under my shirt.

"Steve would you mind holding onto this?" I ask him, holding out the file.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! He gets to see it but I can't?!" Stark exclaims like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

"Yes, Because I trust him not to peep, besides I'll have to tell him anyways." I say casually as Steve slips the file into his leather jacket.

"So, The christmas party?" Pepper asks, changing the subject.

"I wanted to request your permission for lady Jane to attend the festivities." Thor asks pepper loudly. Pepper laughs lightly before saying,

"Of course Jane can come, It would be lovely for her to be here." Pepper says generously.

"Thank you lady Pepper." Thor says gratefully and I swear I can see the faint trace of a blush hidden in Pepper's cheeks.

"Anyways, Mon- Vera, I can trust you with the desserts right?" She asks, actually blushing at her little slip up.

"Yeah, don't worry about it." I say, not fully meaning the desserts.

"Are we going to ignore the whole Monroe thing?" Stark blurts out. I roll my eyes.

"It's an alias idiot." I say looking over at him.

"Yes, I got that much, but why do you need an alias?" He asks me. I stiffen. "Everyone has a past Stark." I say quietly, trying to not look at my feet. I shift uncomfortably in my shoes as Stark pushes on.

"What happened? Did you work for someone?" I can feel Steves hand slip into mine and give it a reassuring squeeze as I take in a breath, my head already hurting.

"I think that's enough Stark." Steve says, his voice serious and Captain like.

"Oh come on, I just want to know!" Stark whines. I can feel my breathing speed up as I clutch onto Cap's hand tighter.

"Stark, Enough." I hear natasha say sternly, standing up from her seat.

"I mean what? Who did you work for? Were you like Natasha? I just want to make sure everyone is safe here." Stark defends.

"Everyone is safe." Natasha says, clearly getting angry.

"I think it's time for you to be quite Stark." Steve suggests, well more like demands. "I don't need you to give me orders!" Stark shouts. I widen my eyes at their argument and my head begins to throb. Natasha is staring at me, eyes wide with concern.

"Clearly you do! You need to learn when to stop!" Steve yells. I stare at him.

"It doesn't matter anymore! You wouldn't be able to do any of this if it wasn't for that special serum!" Stark screamed.

"Oh, It always goes back to this doesn't it?" Steve exclaims, his voice lowered a little. I can hear them screaming but Don't make out any words as the world before me blurs. I fall to the ground with a thud and feel arms encase around me before my eyes close and my mind falls blank.

**Author's Note: This chapter is really long because I didn't know when to end it and ugh, well I hope you enjoyed it! You guys know what to do. :)**

**-Bellsa**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I followed the scheduled update this time! Yay! Anyways, I just got back from school (Which sucked by the way) and I now have a cute chapter for you all! Enjoy!**

I open my eyes and can feel myself being carried.

"Don't tell Fury." I whisper to whoever is holding me. I can tell it is Steve by his facial features, even though everything is still slightly blurry,

"She's awake!" Steve calls to someone in the room.

"Don't. Tell. Fury." I say again, this time more clearer.

"That doesn't matter right now, We need to get you to the infirmary." Steve says. "I'm fine." I demand.

"No, you're not, Banner needs to see you to make sure you are okay. And that is final." Steve says sternly. I raise my eyebrows at his serious tone and say,

"I like this side of you." Before wrapping my arms around his neck and holding on while he climbs the stairs to the infirmary. I can hear his footsteps and try to focus on that sound alone before drifting off as Steve carries me to the infirmary.

I awake in a bed with monitors attached to me. I slowly open my eyes and see Steve sitting in the corner of the room, sleeping. I smiled slightly at him before turning my head to examine the room, Is this an actual hospital room? I swear to god if- My thoughts are cut off as Banner enters the room.

"How did you know I was awake?" I whisper to him, Keeping my voice low as to not disturb Steve.

"I'm monitoring your brain functions, It's easy to figure out if you are awake or not." Banner says.

"Oh." I say dumbly.

"You suffered from a major anxiety and Stress attack, We were worried if something else was wrong you were, well you seemed to have some sort of episode while you were passed out." Banner says with seemingly great difficulty.

"What do you mean? Like a seizure?" I ask him. Banner shakes his head,

"You were talking and screaming and it was something I had never seen before." He explains.

"I took some samples and well." He says, running a hand through his hair.

"We think you may have been exposed to some gamma radiation, It does have this result when under extreme Stress. Like mine, But a lot more subtle." He explains. I bite my lip as I listen to him.

"Would there have been any situations in which you would have been exposed?" He asks me.

"I- well." I say thinking back to when I was taken by the cartel.

"I don't like to talk about it." I say quickly. "Well, It could possibly save your life so telling me would be a pretty good idea." Banner says.

"I'll discuss this with you later," I say motioning to the awakening Steve.

"Well then, You are fine, Just a minor panic attack!" Banner says, His tone changing dramatically. I smile at him. "Thanks." I say, attaching the wires that were on my arms and head.

"She's good to go?" Cap asks disbelieving. Banner nods, walking out of the room rather quickly.

"You still have that file right?" I ask Steve as he helped me out of the bed, which I had told him was not needed.

"Of course." He says, pulling the file out of his jacket as proof. I smile at him and walk out of the door, thankful that I got the heck out of there. I never wanted to be in another lab again.

We were sitting on the floor drinking hot chocolate and listening to old music as we read quietly.

Cap was sucked into his novel but as I read mine I stole glances at him, the way his features were concentrated as he read the pages and how his eyes would widen if something big had happened. I sipped my hot chocolate, relaxed as I lay my back against the couch.

I turned back to my book just minutes before Steve looked up from his.

"So, what's in the file?" He asked me, setting his book down at his side.

"My first mission, Is apparently to get you back into the world." I say looking over at the table where the cream colored folder sat. I had my page held in place with my thumb as I looked back at cap.

"What does that even mean? I hear it almost everyday but no one has explained to me what it even stands for." He says, his voice calm, but his brow slightly furrowed.

"I think it means to get you into the swing of things, our culture and history. All that crap." I say, amused as he flinches at my profanity.

"I'll never get used to a woman swearing." He says, making me laugh.

"It is strangely attractive though." He admits, blushing as I laugh even harder. I grab my phone and pull up google quickly. "We should get started on your history lesson." I say, still smiling at Steve's earlier comments. I grab the remote and say.

"I'm sure history channel has some good documentaries about the late forties and early fifties." I say clicking the television on as I went to the on demand section. "We should get to know each other a bit before you jump right into teaching." Steve says, watching me as I flip through the channels on the flat screen.

"A movie then? Maybe one based off of your time period?" I ask him. He nods, "what about a league of their own?!" I ask excitedly, going to Netflix on the tv. "What?" He asks, confused. "It's based in the forties, off of the womens softball league." I say clicking the movie and throwing myself into the couch, steve following me. He sat next to me as I happily watched the screen.

"You'll like it." I said as the movie started.

Around the time of the dancing at the suds bucket I was slipping in and out of consciousness.

The couch was very uncomfortable and the pillows weren't soft at all.

"You can lay your head on my shoulder if you need too." I heard steve say, he must have sensed my discomfort. I ignored the nagging feeling in my stomach as I scooted over to him and laid my head on his chest, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep within minutes.

I was in a warm closed off space, it was fine at first, the heat only bringing a sweat to my skin. But then it burned, It burned so much. I could feel fire pumping through my blood.

My veins were pulling at my flesh, trying to be let free of my fleshy restraints. I began scratching viciously at my skin, trying to let them out. I was drawing blood, it was obvious because of the liquid that was spreading across my skin. It was caking under my nails but I couldn't care less. I let out a blood curdling scream each time I dug deeper and I could tell I was naked because the leather strap used to tie me down was touching my bare chest. I couldn't breathe and the fire in my lungs wasn't helping. It was resembled being lit like a match from the inside out, except it was nothing but quick.

"VERA!" Steve yelled, awakening me from my dream. I was drenched in sweat and my throat was raw, had I been screaming? Steve looked beyond worried as he had his hands on my shoulders, trying to awake me from my terrifying slumber.

"Oh my god." I whispered, my voice hoarse as I looked down at my hands, expecting there to be blood, I found none. I was frantically checking for a cord that was inserted into my flesh I knew it was there. I could feel my clothes and the burning sensation was gone. My blood was at a normal temperature and I couldn't be more thankful for that.

"You were screaming! Are you okay?! Do I need to call Bruce?" He asks frantically, more panicked than I am.

"It's fine steve, just a nightmare." I tell him raspily.

"You're burning up." He tells me, placing a soft hand on my forehead.

"I'm fine." I say, my voice still hoarse and gravelly.

"Let's get you to bed and maybe a washcloth. That's what my mother would use when I got sick, which was quite often." He says, helping me up and walking me to the bedroom.

He laid me down and I didn't bother to cover myself in blankets as I was sweating. He came back minutes later with a damp towel. He placed it gently into my forehead before going to open the window so that I could get the breeze. Once the breeze hit my body I sighed in relief. It was wonderful for the cold air to hit my skin.

"Do you need anything else?" He asks me, his puppy dog eyes staring into my dead ones.

"Could you stay?" I ask him hesitantly. He paused before nodding and laying down next to me, quite a difference between us. I scooted closer realizing he wouldn't and laid my head on his chest, knowing that the only way to feel safe would be to embarrass myself. He tentatively placed an arm around me and played with me hair, relaxing me.

The breeze and Steve's heartbeat lulled me to sleep within minutes.

**Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one should be up friday! Please remember to review, favorite, and follow the story, It makes my day when I read the reviews and I try my best to reply to them! Okay, enough talking bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: AND I AM BACK. Sorry it's so late I had a bunch of school stuff to do and blegh, anyways enjoy this update!**

I awoke the next morning with my head on something sturdier than a pillow. An arm was protectively draped over me and I felt strangely at peace.

I didn't bother to open my eyes, I only laid there. I could feel steve shift under me and I lazily rolled over. I could feel him do the same, my thoughts being confirmed as I felt his head resting against the back of my neck. I smiled, my eyes still remained shut. I knew I needed to get up. I'm sure I have something to do.

"Steve." I whisper softly. I move my head a little and shift a little bit hoping it will be enough to wake him. Which it did. He groggily opened his eyes and sat up.

"Um sorry." He said awkwardly. I smiled at him.

"Don't worry." I said reassuringly.

"I'm gonna take a shower, see ya in a bit." I say, walking out. But Steve's voice stops me.

"Hey Vera!" He calls out causing me to turn to face him. "Merry christmas."

I wrapped myself in the fluffy white towel and stared questioningly at the black dress before me. A note was laid next to it and it read,

_Wear this for Christmas! -pepper_

I was grateful that she thought of me but not exactly ecstatic about wearing the dress.

The heels that lay beneath it was something I certainly didn't want to wear.

I could hear peppers voice in my head as I began dressing in my undergarments and sweats but brushed them off as I walked out of the room.

Steve was no longer in the apartment. I knew he was downstairs, I also knew I had to go down there.

I descended the steps quietly and quickly, slowly opening the door. Trying to avoid possible attention. I slipped into the room to see everyone eating breakfast and chatting happily among themselves.

"Mystic shadow!" Tony exclaims, getting up from his chair. I manage to smile at him and then go to take a seat.

"So, care to explain the screams last night?" Tony asks. I can tell pepper has stiffened, probably remembering my episode last night.

"Nightmares, no big." I say casually, nodding my head in thanks to cap as he hands me a glass of eggnog.

"Merry Christmas by the way." I say, remembering his comment from earlier. He smiles at me and the light color of a blush appears on his cheeks.

"Are you ready to bake with me?" Pepper asks me, walking over to my chair. I nod at her, smiling.

"And you will be wearing that dress, you're lucky I chose black." She tells me mock sternly. I smile slightly at her comment and sip my egg nog.

"I still need to wrap presents." I think out loud.

"Natasha and I are wrapping ours in a few minutes, want to join?" She asks me. I shrug and then nod.

"Good! Meet us on level 2 in a few minutes!" She says walking away and taking a call on her cell.

"Have fun." Steve says as I get up to follow Natasha since she is already walking out after pepper.

"Thanks." I say sending him a smile before turning to follow the other two girls.

"Okay girls, let's do this." Pepper says revealing herself from behind a door. She holds several packages of wrapping paper and bows.

Natasha and I both have our piles of presents in front of us, ready to be wrapped. Pepper sat down next to us on the floor and began opening all of our supplies.

I grabbed Steve's records and decided to wrap them first, stacking them on top of each other.

I grabbed the blue shiny wrapping paper and taped it together, then placing a bow atop the wrapped gift.

"who are the records for?" Natasha asks me as she wraps Clint's top of the line bow and arrow.

"Steve." I say simply, grabbing Bruce's gift and putting it in a box so that I didn't have to wrap it with the paper.

"Oh, He seemed, Happy this morning." She says, seeming to choose her words carefully.

"It's christmas. He's allowed to be happy." I say laughing in the middle of my words. I reach for my hair band and put my red hair in a messy bun on top of my head. "He wasn't this happy last year." She says looking back down at her wrapping.

"He's come to understand the joys of christmas!" I remark sarcastically, making Natasha laugh.

"Anyways, Baking with Pepper?" She asks me, looking over at Pepper who had to answer yet another business call. She was now yelling at the other person on the line about it being christmas and I was trying hard not to laugh.

"Yeah, She needs someone to cook with her." I say writing Bruce's name on the name tag sticker.

"Yeah you're right. I know you can bake too." She says. I bite my lip thinking of my next words.

"So, what do you guys normally do on christmas?" I ask, avoiding her comment. "We have a party on christmas eve with a lot of alcohol and then the next day we open presents in our pajamas and eat a big breakfast then watch movies." She says, finishing her wrapping.

"Sounds fun, Minus the alcohol part." I say laughing.

"Was it that bad?" Natasha asks me.

"I honestly have no idea what I even said." I admit, setting aside all of my wrapped gifts.

"Wow, You'll just have to stay sober and talk to Cap." She says, winking at me.

"I'm back! That idiot had the audacity to call me on christmas, ugh." Pepper says annoyed as she walks back into the room, slipping her phone into the pocket of her jeans.

"What did he even want?" Natasha asks. Pepper then goes into a deep explanation about some sort of business deal and I zone out as Pepper wraps her gifts. "Anyways! What were you thinking about baking? I stocked up on all sorts of ingredients." Pepper says as she ties a gold bow on top of a red box, clearly for Tony.

"Um, Do you have rice crispies?" I ask her. She raises an eyebrow but nods anyways.

"Good, I'll probably make some brown eyed susans, chocolate toffee squares, and almond crescents. Maybe a cake too." I say thinking of all of the cookies I sometimes make if I remember it's christmas.

"Sounds delicious, whenever you are ready the kitchen is yours, I'll probably be using the larger one on the ninth floor cooking the dinner with Natasha." Pepper explains, getting up from her position on the floor and popping her back.

"I'm sure Steve would want to help you." She says wiggling her eyebrows. I roll my eyes at her and then find myself actually thinking about the idea.

"Anyways, I need to go start on dinner and you need to start on baking! See you in a little bit!" She says walking away, Natasha following her.

I decide to take the stairs too Steve's level in hope of finding him. I knock on the door and then walk in.

"Rogers?" I call out, feeling more comfortable addressing him by his last name. There is no response and I sigh. "JARVIS, Where is Steve?" I ask to the air, knowing JARVIS will be able to hear me. "On the 11th level with mr stark and mr banner miss Vera." JARVIS tells me in his sophisticated British accent.

"Thanks Jarvis." I say walking back to the stairs and running to the eleventh level, not even winded when I see the glass door that leads into the room. I can hear talking on the other side of the for, so naturally I listen in.

"It's so obvious." I hear tony say, "Really?" I hear steve ask him.

"You trail her like a puppy, she's the only one not to notice." Tony says, the sound of metal on metal filling my ears, I open the door and see steve sitting on a chair and tony working on some suit while Bruce reads some sort of paper.

"Hello, sorry to intrude on your talk, but I need to borrow steve." I say awkwardly rocking on my heels.

"Yes, of course." Steve says, standing up to walk over to me.

"Vera, I will need to talk to you later." Bruce says, looking up from his papers. "Why?" I ask him, ready to turn around and walk out with Steve.

"Blood samples." He says simply, turning back to his work. I nod and then walk out, steve following behind me.

"Why does banner need samples of your blood?" Steve asks me as we descend the many flights of stairs to the main floor so that I can teach him how to bake.

"He's testing it." I say vaguely, hoping steve won't push any further.

"For what? Are you okay?" He asks me, stopping me from walking down the stairs to look at me seriously.

"I'm fine, calm down." I laugh. He blushes and we go down the rest of the stairs quickly and silently before reaching the door to the main room.

We open it to find the room empty and spotless as always.

"Have you ever baked?" I ask him, walking into the kitchen.

"Uh, no. Why do you ask?" He responds, as I open the refrigerator door and start searching through the contents of the drawers and shelves.

"You are going to help me make cookies." I respond simply, grabbing the eggs and other ingredients, then placing them on the counter.

"I don't think that's a very good idea." Steve says, standing awkwardly in the kitchen.

"I do, now go get me some bowls." I say a mocking sternness in my voice. He nods and walks towards the pantry.

I begin to open the packaging of several ingredients as he bangs around in the cupboard. I hear a crash and turn around quickly. Steve stands there, holding several bowls and surrounding him is a bunch of containers that must have fallen from the shelves. He blushes as I shake my head at him and laugh.

"We'll clean it up later, come help me pour the dry ingredients." I say, moving over so that he will be able to stand next to me at the counter.

"Just read the directions and go from there." I say, cracking some eggs into a glass bowl.

He nods and I begin to whisk the yolks, I add butter and sugar before looking over to check on Steve.

He seems to be doing okay and he hands me the bowl with the dry ingredients, which I mix in with the wet ones. Somehow during the process of pouring flour into the bowl, Flour had gotten onto to Steve's shirt. He looked at me before grabbing a little bit and flicking it at me. "That was a really bad idea." I say mischievously before grabbing a handful and throwing it into his face.

He coughs as he wipes the flour off of his face, laughing at my childish actions. "That wasn't very kind." He jokes, making more of the dry mix.

"Not a very kind person." I say, beginning on another batch of cookies.

**Author's Note: Oh my gosh I love them. Okay well thanks for reading, Do yo stuff. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Surprise! Another chapter for all of you lovelies. So we are about to hit a thousand views? OKAY.**

**Enjoy!**

**-Bellsa**

Two hours later and a lot of flour throwing, Steve and I were covered in flour. The cookies did actually make it to the oven, thankfully. I was laughing so hard my ribs hurt and I was trying, and failing, to get the flour off of me.

"I can not believe you threw that egg." Steve says, drying his face since he had to wash it to get all of the flour and well, egg off.

"It was there and I was running out of weapons." I say, smiling.

"I think I won the war, too." I add. "Whatever you say, doll." He tells me. I look up at him as he says his words.

"Did- Did you just call me doll?" I ask him. He blushes a deep scarlet and awkwardly runs a hand through his hair.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I did." He says, he looks like he's thinking hard about what to say but still stutters when he talks to me. "Cute." I mutter walking over to the oven to check on the cookies. As I put the pan on the counter my phone buzzes, I reach into my back pocket to retrieve my phone and read my text.

_Pepper: I know you're having fun with Cap but it's time for us to get ready! Meet me on your level in five. _

I blush lightly at her text but put my phone back in my pocket. I turn to face Cap and say,

"Would you mind taking out the rest of the cookies? I have to go get ready apparently." I say. Cap nods at me, seeming to be almost nervous to talk to me.

"Loving the lingo by the way." I say as I pass him, smiling as I walk away from the kitchen and up the stairs to Steve's floor. When I open the door I see Pepper and Natasha, both in robes, their face clear of all makeup. Several women are walking around carrying kits and setting up what I think are stations.

"What the hell?" I ask walking into the room, feeling very out of place in the setting.

"Get undressed and put this on." Pepper says, throwing me a fluffy robe. I sigh and obey, going into the bathroom. After undressing I look at myself in the mirror, I look skinny and muscular, but that is not enough to distract from the scars that have been imprinted into my flesh.

I cringe at them and quickly pull on the robe so I don't have to look at them anymore. I rush out of the bathroom to see Pepper and Natasha in chairs, on their phones as people work on their hair, spraying and straightening as they chatted.

"Take a seat." One of the women who has short black hair tells me kindly, gesturing to my seat. I nod and obey. She takes my hair out of my ponytail and I can tell she hesitates before grabbing some supplies and going to work.

I sit there for an hour, not really thinking of anything, just staring at my hands that are placed in my lap.

"Ah, there we go." The woman says, sounding pleased with her work.

I don't bother to look at the mirror, I just listen for their next instruction.

"Okay, time for nails." She says happily. I place my hands on the table and stay silent as she expertly paints my nails a deep blue.

When she's done she tells me to keep my hands still and she pulls out a large makeup kit.

She begins opening it and I am shocked about the extensive collection of makeup she has.

Who could possibly need THAT much makeup?

"When I'm done with you, you won't recognize yourself!" She says clapping her hands together as she grabs a bottle of foundation and starts her work. Almost an hour and a half later, I open my eyes, following the woman's orders.

"Let's get that dress on, yeah?" She asks me, smiling brightly.

I avoid the mirror as I nod and follow her as she leads me to the bathroom.

She walks away before saying something that I didn't pay attention too at all.

I walk into the bathroom once more, closing the door behind me.

On the back of the door was the dress. It was actually kind of pretty.

It was tight strapless and had some sort of slip when it reached my ribs, It then flowed out into black feathers. It was elegant, yet simple.

I slipped on the dress and then grabbed the heels. I put them on to before hesitantly looking at the mirror.

I was at shock with who I saw. There was a beautiful woman staring back at me, Her red hair curled and draped over her shoulders and lay on her back.

Her smoky eyeshadow looked mysterious and went well with her dress. Her deep red lipstick was shocking and perfect for the outfit. Her dress fit her form perfectly. It took me at least a minute to realize that this woman was me.

I smiled at my appearance and walked out, seeing the two other girls ready as well.

They gasped dramatically when they saw me and I rolled my eyes as I laughed them.

"You look gorgeous!" Pepper exclaims as she runs over to me in her blue heels. She wears a flowy blue dress with a shiny shawl that lays across her shoulders.

I smile at her and see Natasha behind her. Her hair is wavy and she wears a green dress that goes to her knees. She smiles at me and I smile back.

"Ready?" She asks me, extending her arm to both Natasha and me. We smile and take her arms, ready to go to the party.

I can hear the music as we descend the stairs and know that it will be utter chaos. We walk in and I immediately spot Steve, he looks shocked, almost as shocked as I was when I saw myself.

"I told Tony he could invite a couple friends, Not all of new york!" Pepper yells over the music. I look at the large crowd and laugh, This cleanup will not be fun at all.

"Go over to your captain, enjoy the party!" Pepper says loudly to me so that I will be able to hear her. I smile at her and push my way through the crowd of drunk and dancing people. I reach Steve in about a minute and he smiles at me.

My draw almost drops when I see how well he looks in a suit.

"You clean up well." I say, swallowing.

"So do you, I mean I had a feeling you would since you're a damn, well not a dame but you are beautiful. I'm gonna stop speaking now." He says, making me giggle.

"Thank you." I say playing with my hands. "I didn't think Stark would invite all these people." I say looking over the hundreds of people partying on the main level. "Stark can always find a reason to be the center of attention." Steve says, an edge to his voice.

"You don't like him?" I ask, looking at his facial features in a hopefully not creepy way.

"I don't like his ego, and he doesn't like me anyways." Steve says, sipping something from a red solo cup. I raise an eyebrow.

"His father was a close friend of mine, Howard already had a big ego but he was a good man." Steve explains.

"And Tony isn't?" I ask him.

"He cares too much about himself." Steve says.

"How did you know his father?" I ask him, leaning against the table that we were standing next to.

"He was a scientist in the war, I've been told he was looking for me after I went under." Steve explains. I breathe in sharply when I realize the problem between Steve and Tony.

"How long did he look?" I ask.

"The rest of his life." Steve says, looking down at his cup.

"Steve…" I say realizing the tension between Tony and him.

"What?" He asks me, looking up at me. "Tony may resent you because his father spent more time searching for you than spending time with him." I say looking over at Tony who is dancing and drinking. "Really?" Steve asks, looking over at Tony as well. I nod, feeling a wave of sadness for Tony Stark.

"And you have a reason not to like him too, that one I will have to figure out." I say smiling slightly at him.

"We should try those cookies we made." I say looking over at the table which is long and piled with food and sweets.

"Let's go then." Steve says, I follow him down the tables, trying to find the desserts section.

Once we find it, we grab plates and grab handfuls of cookies.

I laugh as we carry our plates back. "Wanna sit in the kitchen? I doubt anyone is in there." Steve suggests, I nod and follow him to the kitchen. It is as he said, empty.

We take a seat at the round table, next to each other.

I grab a cookie and eat it as gracefully as I can. I had been threatened by Pepper that if I smeared my lipstick for any other reason than kissing Cap I would be yelled at. I laughed awkwardly at that and dodged the subject quickly.

"Any good?" We ask each other at the same time. I laugh and nod as I eat another toffee square.

"We did a pretty good job." Steve says as he eats a brown eyed susan.

"What are you even supposed to do at parties?" Steve asks me, getting up to grab us water bottles from the fridge. I gratefully take mine and open it while I speak.

"You've never been to a party?" I ask him. "Not one in this generation." He says sipping his water. I mentally slap my forehead at my stupid question.

"Oh, duh. Anyways, What did you do at parties?" I ask him.

"I usually hung out with Bucky and there was always music but never this loud, and the women did not dress like this." He says looking around at the skimpy outfits. "Bucky?" I ask him.

"My best friend." He explains solemnly. I nod, resisting the urge to bite my lip.

"I'm sure he was wonderful." I say smiling, trying to maybe make him feel better.

"He was." Steve says, looking down at the table. I reach hesitantly next to me and place my hand over his, He looks up at me with his blue eyes and I smile slightly, which he returns.

"I know what it feels like." I say, not moving my hand.

"You do?" He asks me. I nod.

"I've lost more people than I'd like to count." I explain, swallowing.

"I'm sorry." He says sweetly.

"Don't be. People die. It happens." I say monotonically, taking my hand away from his. It's silent before Steve speaks.

"Why do you do that?" He asks me softly. "What?" I ask him.

"You open up and then shut people out again." He says.

"I don't know." I mumble.

"You can't keep all of that piled inside of you, It's not good for you." He says.

"Isn't that what you do?" I ask him coldly. "With some things." He says, keeping his voice calm and sweet.

"I don't like talking about emotions." I say, shifting uncomfortably in my seat.

"It doesn't mean talking about your emotions, just talking helps sometimes too." He tells me.

"I don't need help, I'm fine." I say lightly. "You never sleep, you don't eat that much and it's very rare for you to smile." He points out.

"That doesn't mean anything." I say simply.

"I just think talking about it will help." He says.

"I don't have anyone to talk to, at least not anyone who would have good enough advice." I say.

"I would listen." He says looking at me again, His puppy dog eyes making me smile. He looked as if he was about to say something but he was cut off by someone speaking on the microphone, and that person was of course Tony Stark.

"So, Time for a slow song. Grab someone and dance." He says drunkenly, The crowd laughs as a slow song plays. "Wanna dance?" I ask him, trying to change the subject.

"Do you want your feet to be stepped on?" He asks me. I laugh and say,

"I'll teach you." I stand up and extend my hand for him to take.

"I apologize in advance." He says as I place my hands around his neck. He keeps his hands at his sides.

"Put your arms around my waist, and then just follow my lead." I tell him. He awkwardly places his hands on my waist. He's very gentle and it's like he's not even touching my waist. I laugh at this and take a step, which Steve doesn't follow. I laugh again and say,

"Okay, step in, step out." I do the steps and he follows.

"See, it's easy." I tell him, smiling as I look up at him. There is quite a height difference.

"Not really." He says.

I laugh again and we sway to the music peacefully. I place my head on his shoulder and say,

"I was an orphan, My sister and I were in the orphanage and men came in and stole kids, I was one of them. My sister escaped only to be taken in by the Russians." I say softly, not looking up at him.

He doesn't say anything and I continue.

"I was only ten and they had me kill people. I was their child assassin." I say, swallowing back tears.

"They kept me in a cell. I was poked and prodded for years. They… Experimented on me. Like I was some sort of guinea pig." I say.

"There was another girl, Her name was anabelle, they-they killed her. She was the only friend I ever knew." I say, the tears falling onto his suit.

"I'm ruining your suit, Sorry." I say stepping back and wiping my eyes.

"It's fine, It's not like I'm gonna wear it again." He tells me.

"If you don't mind me asking, You said the mexican cartel? I thought you were russian?" He asks me in the sweetest way possible.

"The russians sold me." I say grimly. He stays silent and just kinda looks at me. I can feel my blush on my skin and bite the inside of my cheek.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that." He says, sounding genuinely sorry for me. "It's over now." I say, trying to convince myself more than tell him something. "Bucky was my best friend before I got the serum and after," He begins, looking down at the floor.

"He was a great man, He saved me from all the fights I couldn't back down on and always tried to get me to go on these silly double dates." He says laughing a little, even though I can still hear the sadness in his voice.

"I-I lost him in the war." He says, his tone falling drastically.

"I'm sorry." I stutter out, trying not to say anything insensitive.

"Hello! Oh, Um." Clint says looking at Cap and I.

"I'll just go now." He says practically running out of the room, probably to tell Natasha.

I laugh when he leaves.

"That idiot." I say lightheartedly.

"So, you know Clint?" Steve asks me, going back to his awkward self.

"Yes." I respond, smoothing down the feathers on my dress.

"Oh." Steve says, his face falling.

"He's like a brother to me." I add.

His features seem to brighten and I resist the urge to laugh.

"This party is boring." I say looking around.

"I'm starting to get a headache from the music." I add trying to drone out the loud blaring music filling the house.

"I thought christmas was about family, not getting drunk with a bunch of strangers." Steve says making me laugh.

"That's true." I say smiling at him.

"I want to go to bed but Pepper would kill me." I say rubbing my temples.

"We could always sneak away." He says. "People would think other things." I say annoyed, not at him but at people's childish behaviors.

"Who cares, You're tired and I don't like loud music." He says with a smile. I smile back and take his hand as I stand.

"These heels suck." I say prying them off of my feet and leaning on Steve for balance.

"Suck?" He asks me.

"Yeah suck, horrible, not good." I explain holding the shoes as we walk towards the elevator.

"Where do these words even come from?" He mumbles as we walk into the elevator.

I smiled at his comment and waited for the elevator to stop and let us out on his floor.

"I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed." I tell steve, throwing my heels carelessly on the floor next to the counter.

"Okay, pepper brought a bunch of bottles here earlier she called them 'something every woman needs'." Steve says.

I groaned.

"If she brought me makeup." I say annoyed walking towards the bathroom. I could hear steve laughing as I closed the bathroom door and started the shower. I turned the shower to a bearable temperature, shed my clothes, and then stepped under the shower head.

I let the water wash away my makeup and washed my hair. I stepped out a few minutes later, turning off the water and wrapping myself in a towel. I looked in the mirror and sighed, I looked like a raccoon. I examined the beauty products pepper had brought over and grabbed the pore clearing lotion.

I rubbed it onto my face, then rinsed it off. My face was clear of makeup and I looked exhausted. I was still in my towel as I walked into the room, rushing to close the door.

I went to my bag and grabbed some shorts. I sighed when I realized I didn't have any shirts. I bit my lip as I thought of my options. I'm sure steve wouldn't mind if I borrowed a shirt right? I went over to his dresser and grabbed one of his white ones, pulling it on. I knew it was too big for me but I didn't care as I climbed into the bed and told Jarvis to turn off the lights. Minutes later I had fallen into a deep sleep.

**Author's Note: They're cute. Okay well hope you enjoyed it! Do yo thing. :) **

**-Bellsa**


	11. Chapter 11

**authors note: WE HIT ONE THOUSAND VIEWS WHAT**

**enjoy!**

**-bellsa **

"Vera?" I heard steve call. I groggily looked up at him and he looked hesitant. "I can call you that right?" He asks me, I squint at the light coming from the window and filling in the spaces around him. Making him look even more like a Greek god.

"Yeah, it's fine." I say running a hand through my still somewhat damp hair. "Merry Christmas." I say sitting up in the bed, the blankets tangled around me. "Are-are you wearing my shirt?" He asks me. I look down at the white shirt and then back at him, not being able to hide my blush I say,

"yeah, is that okay?" I ask him. He nods and looks away.

"Tony wants me to get my ass down there doesn't he?" I ask steve.

"Well, I would have put it in a nicer way, but yes." He says. I laugh at him and grab the hair tie on my wrist, putting my hair in a high ponytail.

"Let's go open some presents." I say clapping my hands together as I climb out of the bed. I tuck my shirt in as we walk towards the elevator so they can see my shorts. We walk into the room and all eyes fall on us. I sigh and take a seat on the floor near the tree, steve sits next to me. "So, you left early, and you're wearing his shirt." Tony says looking at us.

"Shut up, let's open presents." I say annoyed, but blushing anyways.

"Okay! Here, this one is from me to you," Pepper says grabbing a present wrapped with black and handing it over to me. I pulled the silver string and it came unlose. I opened the box and saw a leather jacket I looked up at Pepper. "You are awesome, thank you!" I say hugging pepper. She smiles at me.

"Seriously, I love it." I say admiring the jacket.

"Figures." Tony mumbles. Pepper hits his chest and grabs another present.

"Oh, this ones for me." Pepper says surprised. I immediately know from the pink wrapping that it is my gift to pepper. She unwraps it carefully and sets the paper aside. She smiles when she sees her gift.

"Thank you so much!" She says happily, looking at her perfume and makeup set. "You're welcome pepper." I say, pleased with her reaction. A few presents later and drinks for tony a small velvet box is grabbed from under the tree.

"This one is from steve to Vera." She says, handing me the box.

I can feel everyone's eyes on me as I open the small box with a pop. Inside the box is a beautiful ruby ring. I smile and look at steve.

"This is beautiful, thank you." I say gratefully, taking the ring out of the box and slipping it onto my index finger on my left hand.

"Open mine next." Natasha says, shoving a wooden box into my hands.

"Okay." I say looking at Natasha and Clint before unlatching the box to see the contents. Inside the wooden box is a gorgeous polished knife. The handle has engravings in russian. I look up at them, smiling.

"Only you guys would give someone a weapon for Christmas." I say laughing. "You know you love it." Clint says.

"I do." I say placing it gently into the box before closing it.

"My turrrnnnn!" Tony says like a five year old. I sigh at him as he gives us each a box. I open mine and look at steve, to see if he got something similar. And it was. In each box was a sweater, and on the back of that sweater was our code name.

"You are bringing a whole nother level to ugly family sweaters." I say looking at the perfectly knit sweater with the words 'mystic shadow' sewed into the back. "They're perfect." Tony argues.

"Sure tony." I say grabbing the sweater and slipping it on, just like the others. I move to grab a box from under the tree and hand it to steve. He looks at me and then unwraps it. I smile as he looks over the contents of the box.

"It's no ruby ring, but I think you'll like these records, and those movies." I say as he looks at the albums and movies I had gathered from my house.

"There's one more thing." I say as he starts to thank me. He looks at me confused and move the things aside from the bottom to see the cream colored folder. He lifts the folder and even though it is obvious what the file contains I say it anyways,

"Bucky Barnes file, I thought you might want it, for sentimental reasons." I say. I could feel the astonishment in the room as Steve wraps me into a hug and I wrap my arms around him too.

"My gift pales in comparison to this." Steve says as he pulls away from me. I wanted to frown at the loss of his touch but I couldn't stop smiling from the look of pure joy on Steve's face.

"I doubt that, seriously loving this ring." I say looking down at my hand. I stare at steve for a while as we smile at each other. Clint is the one to clear his throat and I turn around to look at him.

A lot of present exchanging later I'm leaning against Steve and twisting my ring.

"It's too late for breakfast isn't it?" Pepper asks, checking the time on her phone. "It's never too late for breakfast." I say making steve laugh. "I'll get started then, tony come with me." Pepper says, standing up and walking into the kitchen. "Thanks again for the ring, it's amazing. You didn't spend that much on it right?" I ask steve softly.

"It was my mothers, she would have liked you." He says, his blue eyes staring into mine.

"You gave me your mothers ring?" I ask him shocked.

"Yes, but it's nothing compared to the gifts you gave me. I almost feel bad for not getting you more." Steve says, guilt flashing across his features.

"Steve no, this is so wonderful. Don't do this to yourself." I tell him sternly.

"It's just-" he says but I cut him off.

"Shut up and stop feeling guilty about something you didn't even do wrong." I say to him. He smiles at me.

"You are great, you know that?" He asks me. I smile and say

"I've been told." He smiles at me brighter and I lean back on his shoulder. I feel his arm go around my shoulders and I smile, relaxing against him.

"Breakfast!" Pepper calls from the kitchen. I can feel Clint staring at me and I shrug it off as I get up off the floor. "Getting cozy with the captain?" Natasha asks me as I walk towards the table.

"It was pretty relaxing." I say,

"Clint staring daggers into steve was a little discomforting but it was still nice." I say as I take a seat, steve sits next to me and Natasha sits on the other side. Bruce sits across from me and I smile at him.

"I will need to take some samples in the lab whenever you can." He tells me as pepper sets a plate in front of me. "Thanks." I tell her smiling as I grab my fork. Everyone is eating and the table is mostly quiet.

I feel content and happy as I eat my meal and steal a glance at Steve every once in a while.

We finished our food and everyone was chatting while steve and I sat silently.

"I'm gonna go to the gym. Merry Christmas." Steve says getting up from his chair and walking towards the elevator.

I frowned at his absence and sat awkwardly at the table.

"Go after him." Natasha whispers to me. I get up from my chair and wave goodbye to them. I walk to the stairs and run up, reaching the gym in a few minutes. I could hear Steve's fist coming in contact with the punching bag and I pushed open the door quietly.

He didn't seem to notice to me. I stared at him as he punched the bag forcefully. I walked towards the benches and took a seat, that's when he finally noticed me. "Hi, why aren't you with the others?" He asks me, stopping his workout. I shrugged,

"it was boring." I say simply.

"This won't be exciting either." He says. "It's better than tony and Bruce talking about things I don't understand." I say crossing my legs. Steve walked over and took a seat next to me on the bench.

"Do you want to do something?" He asks me, unwrapping his hands.

"I don't want to disturb your workout with my boredness." I say trying not to stare at his muscles, it was proving to be a difficult task.

"You're not disturbing me." He says smiling at me.

"Good." I smile back.

"We could go get coffee or something?" He asks me nervously. I nod at him, "sounds great." I say smiling.

"We might want to change first." He says looking down at our pajamas. I laugh and nod my head, standing up and walking with steve out of the gym and up the stairs to his level.

I was ready to go within minutes. My hair was in a braid and I had my leather jacket on over a white shirt and my skinny jeans. I laced up my boots and walked into the living room to see steve already wearing his khakis and a white t shirt, along with His brown leather jacket.

"Ready?" He asks me. I nod at him and walk out of the apartment with him. We take the stairs and walk in comfortable silence to the lobby.

"So, where are we going?" I ask him. "There's a nice little diner downtown, I thought we could take my bike." He says casually.

I immediately know he means his motorcycle and I get excited fast. "Awesome." I say smiling. I can hear him chuckle as we walk to the garage. Steve climbs onto the bike, I follow.

"No helmets?" I ask him. He shakes his head and I nod.

"I mean I can get one for you if you want one that's okay I'll ju-" he says worriedly. "Steve, calm down it's fine." I say laughing lightly at his frantic voice. I wrap my arms around his torso awkwardly and he pushes off the bike. We begin to drive down the road and reach the diner in about ten minutes.

Steve and I walked into the diner and I instantly got a 40s feel. The walls were covered in black and white photos and the diner even had a cute little bar.

"This place is great." I say as steve and I take our seats at a table near the window. "I discovered it a few weeks ago. I like it." He says looking out the window.

"Hello steve! Hello Steve's friend!" An elderly woman says, approaching the table and smiling brightly at the two of us. "Hello Patricia." Steve says kindly, smiling at the woman.

"Who's this pretty lady? Is she your girlfriend?" Patricia asks, looking at me and smiling. I return the smile and look at Steve.

He opens his mouth to say something but Patricia cuts him off.

"Well you two make an adorable couple! I'll be off then, have a good date!" She says happily walking off to her table where an elderly man waits for her, sipping his coffee and smiling when she takes her seat across from him. I smile at Steve and he blushes. "I knew her from the war. She was a nurse." He explains. I nod.

"She seemed very sweet." I say looking over a menu that was already at the table when we sat down.

"Do you want something to eat too?" Steve asks me.

"I'm good with coffee." I say setting down my menu and looking at him.

A young girl walks up to the table and greets us, taking our orders.

"How did you get bucky's file?" Steve asks me once the waitress leaves our table.

"It took some hacking and a little help from tony." I say setting my hands on the table.

"It means a lot for you to do that for me. I honestly don't know how you thought of the idea." He says gratefully.

"I had a feeling from the way you talked about him you would like his file." I say looking down at the table.

"I still think the ring topped it." I add, looking down at the ring on my index finger. He smiles at me.

"Here ya go, enjoy." The girl says to us as she sets our coffees down onto the table in front of us. Steve thanks her and she smiles at him before walking away. I narrow my eyes at her and then look back at steve. I pick up my coffee to take a sip when Steve's phone rings. He looks at me apologetically,

"it's okay, answer it." I say keeping my hands on the warm cup of coffee. He answers the call and puts his phone up to his ear. He talks slightly urgently, yet annoyed to the caller and presses the hang up button without saying goodbye. I may not have known steve for awhile but I can tell this is a sign of him being mad. He puts his phone back in his pocket and sighs.

"Is everything alright?" I ask him. "It's fury. He wants me and Natasha to go on a mission, ten am tomorrow." He says, clearly unhappy with furys orders. "Classified?" I ask him curiously. He nods.

"Something with shield. I just have to save the people and I'll be out." He says quietly, making sure only I can hear. I begin to worry.

"You'll be safe right?" I ask frantically. "Yes, I should be fine." He reassures me. I sigh in relief.

**Authors note: Yay! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! **


	12. Chapter 12

Authors note: hello again! Nothing really to announce except that I love you guys! enjoy this chapter!

-bellsa

After about an hour and a half of talking and laughing steve and I finally decided we should start heading home.

The motorcycle ride was amazing and I leaned against steve because I actually had a reason to do so. I sighed when we reached the garage and I had to get off and unwrap my arms from him.

"I had a great time." I say happily as we walk back into the tower.

"Me too." He says as we walk through the large doors and into the elevator.

We walk onto the main floor to see tony sitting on the couch with Clint.

"Well hello." Tony says looking at steve and me.

"Hi." I say pleasantly.

"Where were you and Rogers. You were gone for over two hours." Clint says.

"We went out." I answer simply, taking a seat on the couch, steve sitting next to me.

"To where?" Clint pushes.

"For gods sake Clint it's really none of your business." I say laughing at him.

He doesn't seem I find it funny.

"I was worried! You were gone for two hours!" He exclaims.

"With steve, who is extremely trustworthy." I add annoyed at Clint's behavior.

"Look, just tell me next time." He says.

"I don't think there is any reason for me to tell you. I'm a grown woman and I should be able to go out without your approval and constant supervision!" I yell at him.

"I just want to make sure you're safe." He says calmly.

I can feel my blood boiling as I scoff at his words.

"safe, huh. Where were you when I was captured? When I was almost murdered several times? I go out for coffee and it immediately becomes a problem, you might want to get your priorities checked." I say, my voice lowered but with more venom and anger.

"Wait you went out for coffee?" Stark asks me raising his eyebrow. I roll my eyes at him before storming out of the room and up the stairs, making my way to the gym.

Steve's POV

I was shocked at the anger she released upon Clint. His accusations were alarming and his assumption that I wouldn't risk my life if Vera was in danger was annoying.

I was more bothered by the way she stated her kidnapping and being almost killed, I was worried to say the least.

I got up instantly and shot a look at Clint and tony before running up the stairs to try and find Vera.

My best guess was the gym, it was where I usually went to release some anger or if I just couldn't sleep.

I opened the large doors to see her forcefully attacking the punching bag.

She had taken her leather jacket off and was wearing her white t shirt and jeans. Her braid was swinging back and forth as she punched the bag again and again. "What did that bag ever do to you?" I ask her as she stops punching.

I can hear her chuckle as she turns around to face me.

"It insulted my hair." She says jokingly walking over to me.

I smiled at her joke as she stood near me. She was quite short, but I was pretty tall so I guess it makes sense. Her hair was messy in her braid but it still looked perfect.

We didn't say anything but I could practically hear her brain turning with thoughts and worries. I worried about her more than I would like to admit. She seemed to be stressed all the time and I loved when she smiled, and I loved it even more when I was the one who caused the smile.

Veras POV

I could feel him staring at me but I didn't really mind. I held my hands in my lap as I looked across the room.

I couldn't get my mind off of Clint's reaction. It was ridiculous and uncalled for.

I couldn't help the anger that spread through my veins whenever I even thought of it. How could he have the audacity to be mad about me being gone for two hours when he was gone for most of my life. I didn't count when I didn't know him but all the time after I had met him and he and Natasha started seeing each other I counted.

The time they left me on my own and I was kidnapped, tortured and almost killed. I put my head in my hands to try to dull the aching and I could feel Steve's hand on my back, comforting me. I rubbed my temples and tried to relax.

"Maybe you should take a nap?" Steve suggests. I shake my head and look up at him.

"I should apologize." I say coming to my senses. If anyone was ridiculous and uncalled for, it would be me. He was just trying to protect me and possible makeup for the years he was gone. It honestly wasn't his fault that he and Natasha had to leave, if anyone's it was shields.

"I'm glad. Just try not to stress out anymore okay? It's Christmas." He says sounding worried for my well being.

"I'll hang out with them and relax, promise." I say. He raises his eyebrow at me. "I'll curl up with a book tonight and drink some tea. Does that sound better?" I ask, humor lacing my words at his concern. He nods.

"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble." He adds guiltily. I laugh at him.

"Steve, you did nothing wrong. I'm allowed to go out for coffee." I say smiling at him.

"I just worry." He admits.

"If anyone needs to relax it's you." I tell him, standing up. He looks at me confused.

"Steve you are always so worried, it's time for you to take a break." I say honestly.

"I had a break." He says. I raise an unconvinced eyebrow.

"When I was with you." He says. I blush lightly at his statement.

"I'm gonna make you drink tea and read with me." I say grabbing my leather jacket. He chuckles and says,

"okay, I look forward to it." I sent him one last smile before walking back downstairs to talk to Clint.

I walked through the doors and saw Clint and tony talking, but Bruce was there this time.

"Hey Vera." Tony greeted as I took a seat next to Clint on the sofa.

"Hello." I say distractedly.

"Tell us about your date with cap." He says in a girly voice.

At this banner looks up from his phone to look at me. I sigh and say,

"it wasn't a date.".

"You went out for coffee for two hours. Sounds like a date." Tony tells me.

Was it a date? We hadn't exactly clarified any of this. I stayed silent at his observation but turned to Clint.

"I'm sorry for overreacting, you were only worried." I apologize.

"Don't worry, it's all good." He reassures me. I nod my head.

"Banner, I'll do those samples tomorrow." I say simply looking over at banner who was listening to our conversation. He nodded,

"what time?" He asked.

"Anytime after ten, I have some stuff to do before then."

I was curled up on the sofa next to Steve sipping my lemon tea and reading the great gatsby.

He was also reading and drinking tea. He tried to argue me about the tea but I told him he couldn't drink coffee because he would stay up all night and he had a day ahead of him.

My eyes were drooping as I read over the pages, having to reread a few paragraphs because I had spaced out.

"Maybe you should go to bed." Steve suggested somehow knowing i was exhausted.

"But I wanna stay up with you." I argue, yawning after I speak. Damn you yawn. "I'll be fine, let's get you to bed." He says looking up from his book to look at me. He had these adorable reading glasses on and I couldn't help but smile when I saw them.

"Can I just sleep out here?" I ask him. He gives me a look,

"the bed is a lot more comfortable." He says.

"Then you should sleep in it." I tell him, knowing the couch must really suck to sleep on.

"You're sleeping in it." He says obviously. "Yeah I am." I say standing up.

"Then go sleep in it." He says setting his book aside to talk to me.

"Not without you." I argue. He coughs awkwardly.

"What?" He asks me.

"Steve don't think I haven't noticed your nightmares. You are sleeping in the bed. It's for your well being." I point out.

"I don't think sleeping in the bed will help my nightmares." He says.

"Yeah but I could." I tell him softly. With the hesitant look on his face I can tell I've won him over.

We were laying in the bed with a space between us. I could tell steve seemed uncomfortable and it was just then when it hit me. This was probably his first time laying in a bed with a woman, not counting when I was drunk. It was practically forbidden in the forties if you weren't married so this was probably a big thing for him.

I immediately felt bad for making him do this and I turned towards him to apologize but he was already asleep. I smiled at his peaceful face and turned back on my side to go to bed.

I awoke to frantic yells from beside me and I instantly knew it was Steve.

I sat up and looked over at him. He looked tense as he tossed and turned from the nightmare. I shook him violently in hopes of waking him up. They were unsuccessful. I bit my lip as I slapped him across his face, he opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Vera?" He asked me, His voice breaking. "Sorry I had to slap-" I say getting cut off by him giving me a hug. I froze before returning the hug.

"Hey, hey it's okay." I say as he buried his head in my shoulder.

"You died." He tells me, he sounded heartbroken. He had a nightmare about me dying?

"It's alright. I'm right here." I say softly, resting my chin on his shoulder.

"They-they killed you." He continues. "And I couldn't save you." That's the part that gets me as a tear slides down my cheek.

"You'll always save me." I whisper, not even knowing if he heard me.

"Don't ever leave." He says, more begging than demanding. I tighten my grip on him as I say,

"Wouldn't think of it."

I awoke to the sound of banging in the kitchen. I opened my eyes and sat up, checking the clock.

It was 9:37. I hurriedly climbed out of bed to see steve. I entered the kitchen to see him suited up and picking up a bunch of pans which had fallen.

"Did I wake you?" He asks me, turning around to face me.

"No." I lie, looking at his suit. He blushed as he noticed I was looking him over.

"I should probably get going, don't want to be late." He says putting away the last pan. I nod and stare off as he hesitates before walking towards the door. I stood up quickly and rushed towards the hallway.

"Hey steve!" I called out. He turned around at my voice.

I walked towards him. He looked at me confused as I grabbed his collar and pulled him closer, kissing him softly on the lips. His hands softly touched my back and I pulled away. He looked dazed and surprised.

"Stay safe." I whispered to him.

"Always do." He responds softly, walking out of the room.

Authors note: ;)

-bellsa


	13. Chapter 13

Authors note: I MESSED UP. Oh my gosh I can't believe I messed that up something big happens in chapter twelve and boom nope well sorry for messing that up things happen I guess. I would like to thank everyone who has favorited and followed my story. I would also like to personally thank the person who pointed out my mistake and who leaves really nice reviews, Jo. You da best. Okay, bye!


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: I am soo soo soo sorry that I haven't updated some stuff happened and just uggh. Anyways, enjoy!**

**-Bellsa**

I was smiling brightly when I walked down the stairs for breakfast with pepper, tony, Bruce and Clint. Tony noticed my happy mood almost immediately and commented on it.

"What's got you so happy? I thought you would be all down because cap is gone." He says shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Woke up in a good mood, what's the problem with that?" I ask sipping some milk,

"would you like to go shopping with me today?" Pepper asks me, changing the subject.

"Um, maybe, I have some tests I need to get done." I say looking over at banner. ¨We'll get on that right away." Bruce says standing up from the stool and leading the way to the lab. I stayed silent the way down, a smile still gracing my lips.

¨I'll just take some blood and you'll be free to go." He explains, grabbing a kit and bringing it over to a chair which he motions for me to sit in.

I sit in the dentist looking chair uncomfortably and wince when I see the large needle he pulls from the kit. He grabs my arm gently and lays it on the arm of the chair. I close my eyes and take a deep breath as the cold antibacterial cloth rubs onto my skin.

I keep my eyes closed so I don't have to see the needle enter my skin, I shift uncomfortably as it does. A few minutes later the needle is pulled and I sigh in relief.

"All done.¨ Banner says as I open my eyes to see him bandaging my arm.

¨Take it easy, that was a lot of blood. I suggest relaxing with a book or whatever you want." He says putting away his things.

¨Thanks, tell me when you have the results." I say getting out of the chair and walking calmly out of the room. While I'm walking out the sophisticated voice of JARVIS fills my ears.

"Ms Vera, mrs. Potts would like to see you on the 12th level." I nod my head, knowing JARVIS may not see it but proceed to the twelfth floor.

When I get to the floor the smell of fresh air fills my nostrils and I breathe it in. I open the doors and my jaw drops when I see the inside. This building has a spa. A huge actual spa that has workers and expensive looking equipment. I see Pepper in a pink robe, she smiles at me.

"I thought you would like a relaxing day, Bruce told me about the blood work." Pepper tells me handing me a pink robe too.

"The changing rooms are over there, meet me at the pedicure station." She says pointing to the changing rooms before smiling slightly and walking away to some large comfy looking chairs that have elegant pillows on the seat. I walk to the changing room and close the door, strip off my clothes and put on the silk slip.

I put the fluffy robe around me and walk out towards the pedicure station. I looked down at my dull nails, I never painted them. Never saw the need. Pepper was already seated in one of the chairs, a wine glass on the side table. She had her hair in a bun as she let her feet soak in water. I awkwardly climbed into the large chair and sat down, hesitantly placing my feet in the hot water. I say still, not knowing what to do as a woman came over with a wine glass for me and some cheese. I almost laughed at the cheese, really? Cheese?

"So, spill." Pepper says sipping her wine. I looked over as people approached us with kits. They sat down on tiny chairs and started working on our nails.

"What do I have to spill?" I ask her innocently.

"Why were you so happy this morning?" Pepper asks setting down her glass.

"Am I not allowed to be happy?" I ask her, not making eye contact.

"Of course you can be happy, but that was a different kind of happy." Pepper says. "Nothing happened." I argue.

"I'm not tony you can tell me things." She says humorlessly. I thought about it before thinking 'what the hell, it's pepper.' And then I turned to look at her.

"I kissed steve." I say simply. Her eyes widen and she squeals. I laugh at her reaction.

"Really?! Oh my gosh! Tell me every detail!" She exclaims like a crazy high schooler.

"It wasn't that romantic. I just kissed him and told him to be safe." I say shrugging. "What did he do?" She asks me curiously. "Kissed back." I say fighting a smile as I look ahead.

"I knew he liked you!" She shouts happily. "Pepper calm down." I say smiling at her. "He better ask you on a date." She says excitedly.

"If you meddle I will kill you." I threaten jokingly. She laughs at me and I sit back a little more in my chair, relaxing for once.

I was curled up on Steve's couch wearing one of his plaid button up shirts. I had a bowl of popcorn in my lap as I watched reruns of friends.

Steve's cologne still lingered in the air and I breathed in the relaxing scent.

The room was dark except for the tv light, which made sense because it was three in the morning.

I had been thinking of the kiss for a whole day.

I could officially say I was obsessed. I couldn't even focus on the show because I kept thinking of steve.

It was a nice kind of irritating. Every Time I thought of him annoying butterflies ran around in my stomach. I rolled my eyes and smiled at the same time, both annoyed yet happy.

I anxiously awaited the time when he could come back. And then fear ran through me, 'what if he didn't come back? Don't be ridiculous Vera of course he will come back he's captain America for gods sake. The super soldier, the legend. He has healing abilities right? He better.

If he comes back with a scratch on his forehead I'm killing someone.'

I thought urgently I was going insane, wonderful.

And he has Natasha with him, she'll protect him.

As if he actually needed protection.

I put my head in my hands as thoughts whirled around in my mind.

No wonder I couldn't sleep, I couldn't stop thinking. I guess it was better than having nightmares. I looked at the clock and saw that it was four. I had spent an hour worrying about him. An hour.

I groaned and threw my head back on the couch in frustration. This sucked. I closed my eyes and tried to think about something else, knives, brownies, cats, all the things I liked. And then of course steve somehow got involved. His eyes, the way he had to look down because I was shorter than him.

The way he looked so shocked after I kissed him. I fell asleep peacefully as I imagined him kissing my forehead as I laid against him.

It was only three hours later when I woke up, it was chilly in the room and I pulled the plaid shirt tighter around me.

I frowned when I noticed I was alone. The bowl of popcorn was still at my side and I lazily moved it to the table.

The tv was still on and some reality tv show was flashing on the screen. I stood up and stretched, my back popping as I twisted it.

I ran a hand through my hair and grabbed a red strand, staring at it.

I wonder if pepper has any hair dye I can borrow. I looked down at my sweatpants and Steve's shirt that was baggy on me and shrugged, going downstairs anyways. When I walked in the room only Bruce, and Clint were there. I raised an eyebrow as I walked into the kitchen.

"Where's tony and pepper?" I ask them, they turn their heads noticing me for the first time.

Their eyes widened as they saw my shirt and I couldn't help the blush that stained my cheeks, but I did ignore it.

"Working." Bruce says already over the shirt.

"I didn't know tony worked." I said sarcastically grabbing a bottle of grape juice.

"On his suits." Bruce explains.

"Oh yeah, the tinkerer." I say laughing as I take a seat on one of the stools next to Clint.

"You wear his shirts now?" He asks me. "It's comfy and I like it." I say absentmindedly twirling the ruby ring, which of course Clint notices. He stares at me and back to the ring several times. "Stop staring at me." I say laughing and looking away.

"Do you think anyone has some hair dye around here?" I ask to no one in particular as I sip my juice.

"Natasha has some. What color?" Clint asks me. Of course Natasha has some. "Brown. And a curler." I say thinking of how cool brown curled hair would look. Maybe some red lipstick. I could pull off a forties look if I wanted too. "I think she has blonde, red, and black." He says trying to remember the colors. I smile when he says the brown.

"I'll take that one. Still need the curler though." I say getting up and twisting the cap of my mostly finished grape juice. "You know what level we're on look under the bathroom cabinet, you'll see what you need." He says stabbing his fork into his eggs. I nod, waving to both of them as I walk up the stairs to their floor.

I opened the door once I got there and walked towards the bathroom.

I opened the wooden cabinet and saw several boxes of hair dye, and a gun hidden within the things. That was expected. I grab the box and move things aside to find a shiny curler, probably top of the line.

I grab the products and made my way down to Steve's level, closing the door with my foot as I walked in. I set the box and curler on the counter and walked into the bathroom. I opened the cabinet, searching for makeup. I opened the cabinet and saw a huge kit, filled with makeup. A note was attached,

'If you're looking for this you are probably trying to impress Steve, He already notices you so have fun!'

The writing was loopy and pretty, obviously Pepper's.

I smiled at her note and folded it, throwing it away. I grabbed the kit and set it on the bathroom counter, It was a lot heavier than expected. What the hell is even in here?

I walked back into the kitchen to grab the supplies and opened the box as I set the curler on the bathroom counter, next to the makeup kit. I grabbed the instructions and then started mixing the ingredients together. I grabbed the brush and hesitantly brushed it through my hair, a white lotion looking substance was now being spread onto my hair. In a few hours, my hair would be brown.

I had just washed out my long, and now brown hair. I stepped in front of the mirror, a towel wrapped around me as I admired my light brown hair. I keep it down in the hopes of letting it air dry. I walked into the bedroom and then met the annoying situation of what to wear. Steve had already dedicated half of his dresser to my clothes, which wasn't very much. "JARVIS, Where is Pepper?" I ask the british computer.

"Miss. Potts is currently in her office playing candy crush saga." JARVIS reports to me, I hold back my laugh as I say,

"Can you ask her to come up to Steve's level whenever she has time?" I say slipping on some undergarments.

"Miss. Potts would like to know if this is urgent or if it involves Mr. Rogers." JARVIS tells me.

"Tell her it involves Steve, but it isn't that urgent." I say running a hand through my drying hair.

"She says she will be there soon." JARVIS says. I thank him before looking around and finding a blue robe hanging on the door. I slip it on and minutes later I hear Pepper open the door, her heels clicking on the wooden floor.

"Outfit issues?" She asks me knowingly. I sigh and nod my head. She laughs and grabs my hand, dragging me out of the room and into the elevator.

"Sorry for pulling you out of your work, It wasn't that urgent." I apologize. "Nonsense, Steve is going to be back in about an hour and a half, The mission was successful." She tells me. I can't help the smile that takes over my lips as we wait patiently. She pulls me out of the elevator and opens a door.

A large apartment is revealed and I can immediately tell it is her and Tony's level. It's elegant and fancy. Absolutely beautiful, And I'm not want to freak out about decor but it was amazing in here. She leads me to a door and opens it, revealing another room. Filled entirely with clothes.

"Oh." I gasp as I look at the wide range of colors and clothes.

"I'm obsessed." She says as she goes towards a rack and starts pulling things from it.

"You'd look good in dresses, And Oh! This! and this!" She says handing me dresses and jeans and blouses.

"Here, take these. We'll go back down to his level and get you all dressed up!" She says happily.

"Pepper I can't take your clothes." I say holding the large pile of clothes she gave me.

"Think of it as a late christmas present." She says as we open the door to Steve's level.

"Nice hair by the way." She says as she sets the clothes on the bed. I open the dresser and start folding things.

"You already have a side?" She asks me, amusement filling her voice.

"Shut up." I say laughing lightly.

"Wear this!" She exclaims tossing me a strapless black dress with a bow in the middle.

It would flow down to my knees and I think it was one of the only dresses I liked. I nodded and continued folding. "You can fold later! Get dressed and I'll do your makeup." She says in an urgent voice. She practically shoves me into the bathroom to change.

Which I do quickly. I cringe as I see the scars on my shoulders and a couple are shown on my legs. I open the door and awkwardly stand at the doorway. Pepper smiles widely and gets up to hug me. "He'll love it! Now any ideas on what to do with your makeup?" She asks me, probably thinking I won't have any ideas. "Actually, I want to curl my hair and use red lipstick." I say thinking of what I would look like.

"Great idea! I have one that doesn't stain it's amazing." She says sitting me in front of the mirror and plugging in the curler. She opened the large kit and examines the contents.

"I think we will just use some pale glittery eyeshadow just to enhance your green eyes and to really make your lips pop." She says expertly as she grabs her products. She tells me to close my eyes and I do, following all the orders she tells me. I keep my eyes closed as she talks and curls my hair.

"Fury had talked to Tony about sending you on a mission with Cap, He also said something about you needing a cover. I thought you could work as Tony's assistant or something." She says casually.

"Just think you will wear really cute work clothes." She says jokingly as she sets down the curler. I laugh.

"I'm used to covers, this one sounds easy." I say as she traces a brush around my face and eyelids. She applies my lipstick easily and then tells me to open my eyes, which I do hesitantly.

My jaw drops when I look in the mirror. "You're magic." I say admiring my makeup.

I looked natural, a light pink traced my somewhat pale cheeks. The eyeshadow enhanced the green in my iris's and the red was wonderful, popping, but not crazily.

My hair was in loose curls that fell to my shoulders. I stood up and looked at my dress, which went really well with the makeup.

"Not really, everything was all there I just added a little color." She says shrugging like it's no big deal.

"Oh, and we'll talk more about the cover with Tony later, But for now you have a captain to greet." She says smiling as I slip on some black sandals, smiling my whole way to the top of the tower.

**Author's note: I really hope you enoyed it! Do your thing! **

**-Bellsa**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: Ok, Ok, Ok, so I know my updating has been off it's usual schedule but school has started so that means I need to make some changes. My plan is going to be that I update every saturday or sunday, and I will probably throw in more updates during the week if I'm not extremely swamped with homework and all that school crap. Well, anyways, onto your chapter! Enjoy!**

**-Bellsa**

The helicopter was blowing my hair around which added to the curliness. I smiled as Natasha walked out, followed by Steve. They were both still in uniform. Clint stood next to me and Natasha approached him calmly, but with a large smile on her face.

Steve's eyes widened when he saw me and I walked towards him. I smiled widely as he stared at me. Once I reached him he looked down at me, a smile on his face.

"I like your hair." He says grabbing a curl. "Me too." I say smiling through my words. "Wanna go inside? It's cold, I don't want you to get sick." He says noticing my goosebumps which I hadn't even noticed myself. I rolled my eyes at his caring but took his arm anyways as he took me inside and into the elevator where we rode to his level. He opened the door for me and closed it once he walked in.

"How was the mission?" I ask him as I sit down on the couch.

"They sent Natasha and I on two separate missions." He says clearly annoyed with fury.

"What do you mean?" I ask turning to him.

"My goal was to save the people, her goal was to get files." He says sitting down next to me, his suit still on.

That's when I notice the scratches on his face, he has stitches on his eyebrow and I can tell he's exhausted.

"Maybe you should get changed and then take a nap." I suggest, standing up.

"I'll just change." He says walking out of the room, leaving me awkwardly standing in the living room.

I crossed my arms over my chest self consciously as I waited for him to come back. I was already regretting the dress, I could see the scars on my arms and I closed my eyes, trying to not think about it. He came back into the room minutes later, wearing his normal khakis and leather jacket.

"So, Why the color change?" He asks me, sitting down on the couch, I follow.

"I needed a change, and a new identity." I say twirling my new hair with a manicured finger.

"It suits you." He compliments. I blush and smile.

"You should really take a nap." I say as he yawns.

"We're talking." He argues.

"Steve, Go take a nap." I say laughing at him.

"You're like a mother." He says chuckling. "Yeah right, I'd make a terrible mother." I say, not being able to even picture myself taking care of a living human thing. If anyone would be a great mother, it would be Natasha.

"You don't want kids?" He asks me curiously.

"It doesn't fit the job description." I say, being a spy makes it hard to get connected with anyone, they will only be seen as a weakness. And a target.

"Ever thought about retiring?" He asks. "You can't retire from this." I say looking down at my knees.

"Why are we talking about kids? Go to bed." I say pushing him into the bedroom. "Talk me to sleep?" He asks me sweetly. "Fine." I say pulling up a chair to the side of the bed and starting to talk about my day softly. Soon, I heard his steady breathing and knew I had gotten him to sleep. I scanned over his peaceful features before quietly leaving the room and going down to the main room.

"Where's Cap?" Tony asks me as I enter the room by myself.

"Sleeping." I say scanning over the room. It was just me and Tony.

"And you're not with him?" He teases, sitting down on the couch.

"Shut up. We aren't even together." I say crossing my arms as I sit next to him.

"He likes you, Everyone can tell." He says obviously.

"Tony, Don't start this again." I groan. "What? I'm just pointing out the obvious." He defends.

"And it's obvious you like him." Tony says after a few minutes of silence.

I roll my eyes before standing up and walking towards the elevator, I turn to face him and say,

"You're ridiculous, You know that?"

"Of course." He replies, leaning back into the couch and turning on the television.

I turn back around and into the elevator.

I reach Steve's level in just a few minutes. I open the door and look at the bookshelf, Grab a book and sit down.

Thirty minutes later I decide the book is boring and i close it, setting it down beside me.

I look ahead and see the time, 4:23. I stand up abruptly and walk into the kitchen. I open the fridge and frown at the emptiness of it. I sigh and grab my leather jacket, slipping it on over my dress, not even caring. I walk down the stairs and see Tony in the same position, still sitting by himself.

"Hey, Tony would you mind if I went to the grocery store and stocked up Steve's fridge? The emptiness is depressing me." I say smiling slightly at him. He nods, grabbing his card and tossing it to me. "I'm just getting the normal foods, Don't worry about me maxing it." I say as I catch it swiftly. He laughs at this and says,

"It would be hard to max that card at a grocery store." I smile fakely at his comment and go back down the stairs, to the garage.

Tony wouldn't mind if I borrowed one of his cars right?

I was pacing the aisles of the grocery store, my cart half full as I threw in fruits and other produce along with meat and breads. I was trying to plan out the meal in my mind that I would surprise Steve with. I went to reach for a box of noodles when I stopped, realizing I was smiling.

I grabbed the noodles and threw them in the cart, returning to my scowl. I never smile, Unless someone says something funny.

Was it because of Steve? I had been smiling a lot lately. Maybe it is just the people I hang out with now, They make me happy. I usually stay alone, I guess being with people does make a difference.

I put my several bags in the trunk and walked to the front of the car to get in, I was stopped by a reporter. I internally groaned before giving them a scowl and getting in.

As I drove back to the tower I saw several more, following me. I rolled my eyes and went into the garage, locking it.

I got out and grabbed the bags before walking in and taking the stairs to Steve's level. I opened the door to see Steve standing and holding the remote, looking utterly confused. He saw me and put the remote down, rushing to help me. I smiled at him as he helped me set the bags down on the counter.

I thank him quickly and start to unpack the bags, He tries to help but I shoo him away. Steve goes to sit on the stool and looks at me, waiting patiently, probably for an explanation.

¨Did you have a nice nap?" I ask as I open the fridge and put in a carton of milk. I turn to see him nod and then open his mouth to speak,

¨You didn't pay for this with your money right?" He asks me, I roll my eyes, smiling.

¨No, Tony gave me his card.¨ he nods, relieved.

"So, um. Are we gonna talk about. You know?" He asks me awkwardly.

I raised an eyebrow and then knew what he was talking about.

"The kiss?" I ask leaning forward a little. He nods, swallowing nervously.

"Yeah sorry about that. I was kinda worried you wouldn't come back and it was just.." I stopped as I watched disappointment fill his features. I felt horrible. I don't even know why I said that. It just came out. I started covering myself, as I always do. It was second nature. I frowned and looked away from him.

"Oh." Was all he managed to say.

"I'm gonna go finish my report. You can just do whatever." He tells me, his posture was unnaturally slumped and I sighed as I knew it was all my fault. As soon as he left I put my head in my hands. I felt absolutely horrible.

Why am I such a mess. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes as I ran out of the apartment. I ran up the stairs to Natasha and Clint's room in desperate need of comfort that I did not deserve. I knocked on the door and Natasha opened it, wearing a robe. Her expression changed dramatically when she saw my hurt expression. She guided me into the suite and I sat down.

"I am a horrible human being." I groaned shoving my face in the pillow.

"What did you do?" She asked me, her tone full of knowing.

"I- I lied to Steve." I said, turning around and laying on my back and looking at her. "Oh god, Vera. What did you say?" I sighed and choked back a sob. I felt like such a girl. I was stronger than this.

"I told him I didn't have any feelings for him without actually saying it." I said, completely distraught.

"Vera." She whispered, rubbing my shoulder. That's when I sniffed and wiped away the single tear that had fallen.

"I shouldn't be overreacting. Just, um, Is there any paperwork or something I could do." I ask, just wanting to block out whatever it was I was feeling at the moment.

"You should ask pepper if you could help out, I'm sure she will be more than pleased." Tasha suggested, checking her phone as it beeped.

She raised an eyebrow at the message and then put her phone away.

"Steve is worried about you." She tells me nonchalantly. I swallowed.

"Tell him I'm busy." I said standing up and waving goodbye before walking out of the suite and descending down the shiny wooden staircase, in a search to find pepper.

I knocked lightly on Pepper's office door and waited patiently for her to let me in. She greeted me seconds later with a large smile on her face. I sent her a small smile back, out of kindness.

"Is there any paperwork I could help with?" I ask her, my hands folded in front of me. She turned her head ever so slightly and seemed to be examining me. "Are you okay?" She asked me, concern lacing her expression.

"Yeah of course, I just, um, Yeah." I lie, sighing slightly after I stutter the words out. She nodded slowly, disbelievingly.

"I have some files you can enter into the computer if you're interested." She suggested walking over to a large filing cabinet and grabbing a stack of files. She handed them to me and smiled. I looked down at the large stack and felt satisfied. This should keep me busy for awhile. As I held the files I saw the ring on my finger and looked back up at Pepper quickly. "Thanks." I told her.

"You can work in the office next to mine if you want to. It's right next door, not hard to find." She told me, going back to her desk and sitting down. I nodded and walked to the office, my heels clicking. I felt overdressed.

Even though I was in a business area. I guess it had to do with the fact that the outfit and the hair was basically for nothing. I opened the door to the office and gasped at the design and practically perfection of the place. It was astounding how well they took care of their offices. I smirked when I saw the high tech computer and immediately walked over to sit in the spinning chair. I turned on the computer and opened a file, beginning my work.

I would look down at my fingers every so often as I would type in the information and I would see that damn perfect ring. I sighed with anger as I stopped my typing and took the ring forcefully off my finger, setting it down on the table. Out of my eye view may I add. I went back to working and heard my phone buzz minutes later. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my phone. It was Nat.

_Nat- Steve and I have a mission, I'm gonna interrogate him and return to you as soon as I can._

I smiled and shook my head at her. How can she act so professional with such a girlish matter.

_There's really no need for that. Let him be._

_Nat- Don't be ridiculous I need details and I need them now._

I laughed at her text and told her to stay safe before returning to my diminishing pile of files.

It was dark when Pepper ran into my office. I looked at her confused. Her eyes were full of panic and honestly it was scaring me.

"Pepper what happened?" I ask, getting up and walking over to her. "We need to go." she whispered to me. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I-It's Steve." She said, her voice shaking.

**Author's note: *Evil laughter***

**-Bellsa**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: Hi. Enjoy!**

**-bellsa**

Those two words brought my world crashing down in a way I never thought it would.

My heart shattered into pieces and I felt as if I would any second.

"I-I" I tried to stutter out.

"My ring." I said running over to grab the ring.

"Get me to the hospital." I said running out of the offices with her.

We ran down the lobby, ignoring the fact we were wearing heels and happy was surprisingly already waiting for us in a car.

The minutes in the car seemed like an eternity yet everything was a blur. I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. What if he's dead? I bit my lip hard at the thought. I opened the door of the car before it had even fully stopped and ran into the hospital, getting strange looks from nurses who were exiting the building.

"Rogers." I said, out of breath. She calmly entered his name into the computer and I felt the sudden urge to strangle her so that she would go faster.

"I'm sorry but only family members are allowed in the intensive care unit." She told me with a smile. I clenched my teeth and lied easily.

"I'm his wife." I said looking at my left hand and smiling as I realized I put the ring on my wedding finger. She nodded and gave me a pass. I motioned for Pepper to follow me as we ran up the stairs to the ICU. The waiting room was full, and it was full of the avengers.

Even Fury was sitting in a chair with his hands in his lap, his lips pursed.

Everyone looked distraught and I probably looked insane. I walked up to the desk quickly and showed the woman my pass she nodded and walked me to the large room where he was staying. I knew I wasn't prepared to see him. And I also knew it would break me but I certainly didn't expect this.

I let out a sob as I saw him lying there, wires attached to him. He looked broken, pale, and this last one killed me. He looked dead. The nurse looked at me and nodded before closing the door and leaving me alone with him. I pulled up a chair and sat down, trying very hard not to break down into an emotional mess.

I swallowed as I stared at him. His face was scraped and covered in tiny bandages. His side was bandaged and I saw the x-rays of his broken ribs. I looked at him again and finally broke. I was full on crying, tears were falling onto the white hospital sheets and I made no attempt to wipe them off my face as I sat there and cried until I felt as if I had no more water in my body that could form tears. Atleast, I hoped that would happen. I gently grabbed his limp hand and placed it in mine, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

I set my head down on the bed, making sure not to hit him with my head or anything in fear of hurting him. That's when I felt fingers wrap around my hand and give it a squeeze, similar to mine. I jolted up and looked at him. His eyes were closed, but I could see his eyelids trying to open.

I smiled, even though I was still slightly crying. I leaned close to his cheek and kissed it, lovingly and comforting. Well I think it was lovingly and comforting I'm not used to this stuff.

His eyes opened when my face was close to his.

"Hi." He whispered to me, his voice hoarse. I almost screamed in joy.

"Thank god." I said as I squeezed his hand harder and tried very hard not to hug him.

"I don't think I'm supposed to be awake." He tells me. I looked at him.

"Why?" I asked, laughing nervously. "There was a bullet in-" He stopped mid sentence and arched his back. I froze and began to scream

"NURSE!" as nurses fled into the room I saw Steve's green eyes, and they were full of fear.

I was forced out of the room and I walked shocked over to the waiting room. I sat down next to Natasha and tuned everyone out as I was being bombarded with questions. Nat put her hand up and everyone shut up.

"What happened Vera?" She asked me softly. I swallowed, and forced the horrific words from my quivering lips,

"I think he went into cardiac arrest.". Everyone gasped and Tony sat down. I knew the chances.

And I knew that they were slim.

I laid in an uncomfortable chair that night, biting my fingernails and making no attempt to sleep.

The nurses haven't told us anything yet and it's been two hours. That could either be a good or a horrible thing. I couldn't help but think of the horrible option as I curled up in the chair and played with the emerald ring that had not moved from my wedding finger.

Silent tears fell onto the arm of the chair as I took deep breaths to try and calm down. This is the most emotional I have been since, well ever. It was certainly taking it's toll on me as I felt the aching pain of a headache pounding my skull. Everyone seemed to be asleep, except Tony and me.

Tony sat in the same position he had when I told him the news. Leaned over, his hands in his lap and staring blankly at the wall. I looked at him and sighed. I put my attention back to my ring. That's when I heard sniffling. I jolted my head over to Tony's direction and saw a tear on his cheek.

Tony Stark… Crying? Over Steve Rogers? of all people? Am I drunk? Is he drunk? That's when I heard the footsteps of someone and i looked up at her, as did Tony.

"He's stable." She said with a smile. I couldn't help but cheer. Waking everyone up. I couldn't care less at the moment as happiness overtook me and I hugged Tony and repeatedly said

"He's Stable!". Everyone laughed and smiled as we cheered.

"When can we see him?" I spoke up. "Well, now if you want too. He's awake, weak, but awake. Only three people at a time." She said, smiling at us. I smiled wide and began to walk towards the special room he was given.

I turned around and noticed no one was following me. I looked over at their smiling faces and noticed that even Fury had the traces of a smile, but barely.

"Come on then." I said motioning for two of them to follow me.

"You go first." Tony said. I rolled my eyes and walked quickly into the room. I opened the door and saw Steve laying in the bed, watching the tv. He hadn't noticed I entered. I sat down in the chair and looked at the tv. Is that downton abbey? I swear to god. He looked over at me and managed a weak smile.

"Please tell me you're not watching downton abbey." I said as I saw lady sybil appear on the screen. Season one. "Happy told me it was good!" He defended himself. I laughed at him and he turned off the tv to look at me.

"You gave us quite the scare." I managed, absentmindedly fixing his hair. He looked up at me.

"Sorry." He said smiling at me.

"Just don't die on me okay? That would really suck." I admitted. He laughed at me and then winced. I then jumped into overprotective crazy mode.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry do you need a nurse Steve are you okay?" I asked quickly, freaking out by the pain he received from laughing. He shook his head.

"I'm fine, calm down." He said. It was a comfortable silence while Steve slipped his hand into mine.

"Would it be inappropriate for me to kiss you right now?" He whispered to me. I looked over at him, dumbfounded.

"Well, we are in a hospital." I said.

"I almost died. I think I deserve something for that." He argued. I laughed.

"Who are you and what have you done with Steve Rogers?" I asked smiling and laughing.

"I'm sure I'll turn awkward again, probably the drugs. Just kiss me while I have the guts." He said, unhooking his hand from mine and gently moving my face towards him for a sweet and absolutely perfect kiss.

**Author's Note: Bye. **

**-Bellsa**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: Okay so I missed saturdays update, please forgive me. **

**-Bellsa**

"The others want to see you." I whispered to him as he stared at me, almost adoringly. I'm pretty sure I was a deep scarlet as he continued to look at me. "You'll stay in here right?" He asked me. I smiled at him, feeling genuinely happy for one of the first times.

"Only three are allowed in at a time." I said.

"Then only let two in." He told me, grabbing my hand. I sighed and nodded, not being able to say no to him.

"I'll go get Clint and Natasha. You tell me the minute you get tired." I told him sternly, getting up to go get Natasha and Clint. I could hear him chuckle as I opened the door. Fury was already behind it and came walking in as soon as it was open. I raised my eyebrows as he brushed past me.

"Captain, I would like to talk to you." He said in his usual intimidating voice. Fury turned and looked at me, I put my arms up and walked out of the room to let them talk. I knew Steve would not be happy about that. I walked back into the waiting room, smiling dumbly. I received strange looks as I was in a daze. I sat down and began to daydream. I felt like I was in middle school again. I resented the feeling but couldn't say I hated it. I felt carefree and happy, it was odd.

"Hello? Earth to mystic shadow." Tony said waving his hand in front of my face. I snapped out of my daze and frowned at him.

"Don't call me that." I said, annoyed with him, like usual.

"You were on another planet I had to do something." He said. I looked around the room and noticed a lack of thor.

"He had to go back to Asgard for some thingie or something." Tony told me, surprisingly knowing what I was thinking. "So how did it go with cap?" He asked me, suggestively moving his eyebrows. At that everyone's attention quickly turned to my suddenly nervous form.

"Nothing tony." I lied, keeping my voice serious and annoyed. I was trying very hard not to smile.

"Did I hear moaning or-" he begins, but I cut him off my gasping and swatting his shoulder. He laughed.

"I hope you didn't hear moaning." Clint says, his arms crossed in a very hawkeye looking manner.

"Leave them alone." Natasha tells him, looking to me and sending me a quick smile. I smiled and then couldn't seem to stop.

"So something did happen?" Pepper butts in, smiling at me.

"For gods sake guys. Nothing happened and that's-" I was cut off by the swooshing of a leather trenchcoat and the stomps of boots.

"You can go back now miss. Romanoff." Fury informed me, walking away without another word.

"I guess two more people can come with me." I tell the group.

"She guesses." Tony said sarcastically as I lead him and pepper into the room. Steve was sitting how he was when I left and looked up when we walked in.

"There's the capsicle! Do you feel broken? I thought you had healing powers what the hell is this hospital crap." Tony said as he walked in. He had his tony persona as he paved the room and did his dramatics. I sat in the same chair next to Steve's bed as pepper sat on a couch that was in the room.

"My healing is working slower because of the amount of damage done." Steve informed him.

"Oh come on how bad was it." Tony asks him.

"Pretty bad." Steve tells him, looking up at me for a second only to look back at them. "Oh! Missy-" tony began I immediately cut him off.

"Excuse you?" I asked at the name he had called me.

"Missy, you know shorter version of mystic." He explained, sitting down next to pepper.

"Stark I swear to-" I began only to be rudely cut off my stark again.

"Whatever, banner said he had the results of your blood work and needs to speak to you." Tony told me. I nodded and tony immediately went into another subject. "So, can I plan your first date." He asks us casually. I looked at him, astonished. "What?" I asked tony.

"First date, I want to plan it." He told us, in all seriousness.

"No tony. Even if we were to have a date I would never let you plan it." I said, cringing at just the thought of tony planning a date.

Steve looked at me as I said we wouldn't have a date and frowned. "Seems like steve doesn't like that idea." Tony said laughing.

"If steve were to ask me out on a date, and I doubt he is, then he would want to do it himself." I said matter of factly only for tony to say At Least three innuendos in a row. I rolled my eyes and said

"send in Natasha and Clint you are annoying." I joked, mostly being serious though.

Tony put his arms up in defense and grabbed peppers hand, pulling her out of the room and yelling, quite loudly, for Clint and Natasha to come into the room. They came in about a minute later, Natasha smiling at me and Clint with his usual scowl.

"How ya doing?" Clint asked steve who shrugged in response.

"You know I broke my ankle because of you." Natasha said, her hands on her hips. I looked down at the large cast that covered her foot which I surprisingly didn't notice before.

But yet not surprisingly because I was too worried about steve.

"Oh. Natasha I didn't know I'm-" he began, his voice already filled with worry and I scolded myself for my heart melting at his voice.

"Steve don't say it or I'll break another one of your ribs." Natasha threatened. I laughed and looked down at Steve's hand, feeling the urge to hold it. I swallowed and sighed at my girlish attitude.

"You okay Vera?" Clint asked me, noticing my sigh.

"Perfectly fine. I'm not the one you should be worried about." I said motioning to steve. Steve chuckled at my comment and my heart melted yet again. This needs to stop

I am so done with smiling because he spoke.

"Well, banner probably wants to see you unless he left already." Natasha says offhandedly.

"Clint and I have a mission, see ya guys. Steve get those magic abilities working okay?" Natasha asked. Clint sent us a small smile as they walked out, they're hands together. They closed the door and I sighed, and then looked at Steve. He looked back at me.

"Hello." He said, I smiled.

"Hi." I returned.

"Are you tired?" I asked him, as he yawned.

"A little bit." He told me honestly.

"Go to sleep then." I told him, grabbing his hand and holding it. He smiled at my gesture and shook his head.

"Go to sleep steve. You don't have to worry about showing your 'weaknesses' around me." I said, using quotation marks. "I don't-" he began which I cut him off. "You do, steve. Go to sleep." I told him. "What will you do?" He asked me.

"Maybe I'll sleep." I said, twiddling with his fingers absentmindedly.

"Where?" He asked.

"Just in the chair, I'll be fine." I told him. "You'll hurt your neck." He told me, closing his eyes.

"Then you'll just have to give me a neck rub, no big deal." I said, smiling. He chuckled at my comment and we went into a comfortable silence. I leaned over and kissed his forehead, whispering goodnight before settling back into my chair. Our hands still linked together as we both fell into a sleep.

**Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to favorite, follow and review!**

**-Bellsa**


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: Okay so this is an extremely, extremely short chapter but you will soon learn why. I am also going to be starting the winter soldier plot very soon. Please be aware that not all the lines are word for word in the movie, But most of it is pretty on point. Enjoy!**

**-Bellsa**

"THEY ARE HOLDING HANDS PEPPER!" I heard tony yell loudly as I was rudely awoken.

"Really tony I was sleeping." I said as I opened my eyes and unlinked my hand from Steve's.

"That was a milestone in your relationship I couldn't help it." Tony defended himself as steve awoke and looked at me.

And let me just say he looked adorable. "You guys are so cute and I WILL be planning your first date, it's a no brainer." Tony said, shrugging. Pepper mouthed 'sorry' to me as she attempted repeatedly to pull tony back.

"Let them sleep tony. I'm sure they're exhausted." Pepper tells him, dragging him out. Tony manages to get his head in the door to say

"from all the love making?" And then laugh loudly as he lets pepper pull him out. I rolled my eyes at his behavior and looked back at Steve.

I stared at him for a few seconds before deciding to say

"I'm gonna kiss you? Is that okay?" I leaned in a little to hear his response. "You don't have to warn me." He tells me, chuckling.

"Well, I thought you would want some sort of warning instead of me just attacking you on-" I was cut off by his lips crashing on to mine and I laughed through the kiss after getting through the initial shock. I pulled away and smiled at him, then said, "my lipstick got on you." He shrugged, making me laugh. I was happy for once in my life and it was perfect.

**Author's Note: I told you it was short. Anyways, the next chapter will be up alongside this one, so no worries!**

**-Bellsa**


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: Hello again! This is the beginning of the winter soldier plot and I hope you enjoy it!**

**-Bellsa**

3 MONTHS LATER

I'm such an idiot.

I can't even explain my idiotic behaviors.

I sat in my apartment looking through files which had been assigned to me by shield. A bottle of beer sat on the table, empty, another one was next to it, mostly full. I got frequent calls from Tony and Natasha, and texts from Pepper. None from Steve. Not surprising. Since I practically ripped out his heart and stomped on it. I could consider myself worse than an evil disney queen by this point, and I'm a trained assassin.

I told him I couldn't do it anymore. I was weak. And I ran. I was a coward and I admit it. I had the audacity to cry over him, I was the one who left him I had no right to cry over it. I don't even know why I did it, I actually liked him, maybe not love but I definitely liked him. I knew he liked me too, and I ran. I'm still in New york, surprisingly. But I'm working with Shield. Surrounding myself with work and other times alcohol. Life sucked, I know my life is probably better than millions of other people, but still, it hurt like hell.

TWO DAYS LATER

I was called in this morning by fury himself, he wanted me to go on a mission. Something about a captured ship. He even told me Natasha would be my partner. I was excited about that, I hadn't seen her in person in about two months and I needed to catch up with my sister. I hadn't had a real conversation with anyone unless it was about a mission. It was quite sad actually. I knew I deserved the pain.

It was about six A.M when I had my sports bra, sports jacket, and yoga pants on for my morning jog. As I walked out the door I felt suddenly sentimental and went down the path Steve and I would take when we were still together.

I jogged down the path, not breaking a sweat. Another thing that had happened that in no way compares to the whole Steve mess was the results in my blood work.

Apparently Banner said that I had a steroid permanently implanted into my blood, cool huh? He said he didn't know how it could have gotten into my system, and to be honest I didn't either. He then went on to explain something that I paid no attention to.

I continued jogging and then broke into a run when I saw a familiar figure in front of me. I ran up to him and he said something odd,

"Yes, yes I know to my left." He sighed. I raised an eyebrow and ran beside him. "Hey! Heartbreak girl I barely noticed you!" He exclaimed I laughed at his now true statement.

"Don't ever call me that again." I said, laughing at him.

"Well don't you look good." He said looking down at my toned, flat stomach which was revealed because I was wearing a sports bra.

"Shut up." I said, pulling my jacket over myself.

"To you-" I heard someone begin only to stop mid sentence and mid run to look at me.

I turned to look at the guy and stopped running, my shoulders fell and my heart dropped to my stomach, It was the one person I didn't need to see.

Steve Rogers.

He looked as surprised as I felt but my gaze didn't linger too long on his face, it traveled down to the tight under armor shirt her sported.

"Hi." I stuttered out, feeling like a piece of glass that had been shattered into pieces. "You two, Know each other?" Sam asked from behind me.

I cleared my throat and turned to face him, my blonde and straight hair swooshed in it's ponytail as I turned my head to look at sam.

"Yeah, um, I have to go." I said just as a black corvette pulled up and rolled down it's window.

I held in a groan at the inhabitant of the vehicle.

It was Natasha.

"Oh! Vera, I have to take Steve to Shield for our mission, you should come along too." She suggested.

"O-Our Mission?" I stuttered out as Sam made some sort of comment to Natasha. "Yeah, get in." she said. I obeyed, shocked and slightly scared to get to shield and get the orders for our mission.

Strapping on a parachute I stood a fair distance away from Steve as Natasha talked about getting him a date. I swallowed and awkwardly stood, waiting to jump from the plane.

Steve seemed uncomfortable too as he scratched the back of his neck while Natasha kept suggesting random women. I felt self conscious in my skin tight cat suit as I stood near Steve, ready to save some hostages.

I knew I shouldn't be worried about it since I was in the middle of a job, but my girlish instincts kicked in and let's just say I wore makeup on this mission, more than usual.

I curled my hair in a forties hairstyle. I can now say I've hit a new low when it comes to the 'Steve situation' As I had taken a liking to calling it. I wasn't exactly listening but I did hear Steve say

"Too busy." But only because I felt his arm around me as he said the words, only to pull me out of the plane with him. "What the hell Steve?!" I screamed as we fell down to the boat at a fast rate. He had both arms around me now as we fell. He held on to me tight as we landed in the water, only to discard the parachute and climb up onto the ship. I was blushing, and I knew I was ridiculous.

Steve pointed in the direction to my left, I turned to follow him and took down several guys as we got closer and closer to where we needed to be.

That's when Natasha showed up as we were walking quickly and taking down guys on the go.

"Vera! I need to get you a boyfriend, what about-" She began, but Steve cut her off. "She's fine." He said, hitting some guy with his shield.

"Um excuse you, I am not." I said as I knocked some guy out with a high kick. "You're not?" He asked, stopping mid sentence and looking at me.

"uh Ste-" I began as a guy approached him, only for Steve to punch him in the face and knock him out immediately. "We're on a mission and this is not the time or the place to discuss this." I said quickly, before running off in search of more people to fight off to hopefully distract me from whatever was going on at the moment. Steve stood there for a few seconds before going back to the task at hand.

I avoided steve as I made my way through the engine room, taking down guys while I went. I walked through the ship, eventually finding Natasha who was on a computer.

"Natasha?" I asked as I closed the door quietly behind me.

"Are you downloading files?" I gasped, looking at the computer.

"Whatever I can get my hands on." She explains.

"What the hell Tasha!" I exclaimed looking at the computer with frustration. "Those were my orders. Now do yours." She tells me just as steve bursts through the wall, some guy underneath him.

"Well this is awkward." Natasha says as steve stands up, the guy passed out.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asks as Natasha answers truthfully and steadily.

"Why-" an explosion interrupted his voice and steve grabbed me, jumping behind something to protect the blow. I felt my head hit metal as we landed on the other side of whatever we were hiding behind. I looked up at steve, my vision blurry, but I could still easily make out his green eyes that were full of worry.

**Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed that introduction! as I said before not word for word but it will be soon. Anyways, thank you fot reading!**

**-Bellsa**


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